Regional connections · Industry analysis
Port cargo grew: what belongs in your South Florida freight plan?
Coverage: .
A stronger port cargo total can justify a closer look at your inbound plan. It cannot tell you whether next Tuesday's shipment is ready to leave a terminal or whether a warehouse can receive it. This October 2025 retrospective uses the later-available Port Everglades fiscal-year tables to show how a buyer can move from a regional activity signal to a specific, workable freight discussion.
What to take away
Three points for your next decision
- Compare the same fiscal period and cargo measure before describing growth.
- Loaded TEUs, total TEUs and short tons answer different questions.
- Use regional activity to investigate your own shipment needs, then confirm cargo and receiving readiness.
Three years, two measures
The port's cargo table lists 1,013,159 total TEUs for fiscal 2023, 1,087,112 for fiscal 2024 and 1,167,552 for fiscal 2025. The 2025 figure remains marked preliminary in the version checked on October 5, 2026. This is a retrospective comparison of fiscal years, not a claim that the full-year numbers were available to a buyer during October 2025.
Sources: [1]
Data in context
Port Everglades total container activity
Total TEUs · TEUs
Port Everglades total containerized TEUs, fiscal years shown; official cargo table checked October 5, 2026. FY 2025 is preliminary. TEU means twenty-foot equivalent unit, not one truckload.
Sources: [1]
View data table and download CSV
| Fiscal year | Total TEUs (TEUs) |
|---|---|
| FY 2023 | 1,013,159 |
| FY 2024 | 1,087,112 |
| FY 2025 preliminary | 1,167,552 |
The accompanying commerce chart reports containerized cargo tonnage separately and defines its tons as 2,000-pound short tons. It also separates loaded TEUs from total TEUs: fiscal 2025 shows 835,822 loaded TEUs alongside 1,167,552 total TEUs. A presentation that switches between those measures can create an apparent change that comes from the definition rather than from a new movement of goods.
Sources: [3]
Data in context
Containerized cargo weight at the same port
Containerized cargo short tons · 2,000-pound short tons
Separate measure and axis from the TEU chart. Port Everglades waterborne commerce table, checked October 5, 2026; FY 2025 preliminary. These are containerized cargo tons, not all waterborne commerce.
Sources: [3]
View data table and download CSV
| Fiscal year | Containerized cargo short tons (2,000-pound short tons) |
|---|---|
| FY 2023 | 6,368,522 |
| FY 2024 | 6,748,200 |
| FY 2025 preliminary | 7,248,707 |
Choose the question before the number
For a buyer considering a recurring inbound arrangement, total activity is useful background for asking whether the existing plan deserves another look. The next question should concern the freight the buyer actually controls: which purchase orders are expected, how they will be released, and where they need to go. Start that conversation with shipment records, not a percentage applied to a regional total.
Suppose your company buys goods from several suppliers and sends them to two receiving facilities. Even if the port total rises, one facility could have fewer inbound orders while the other faces a concentrated delivery week. Combining those facilities into a single monthly average would hide the scheduling problem. Break the planning discussion into destination, requested week and release dependency before deciding whether a recurring pattern is realistic.
| Measure or record | Useful question | Still needs confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Total port TEUs | Is regional container activity changing over comparable fiscal years? | Your cargo mix and inland shipment requirements |
| Loaded port TEUs | How does loaded activity differ from the overall container measure? | Actual released shipment quantities and destinations |
| Containerized short tons | How does cargo weight compare over time? | Your shipment weight, dimensions and equipment fit |
| Your receiving schedule | When can this facility accept the identified freight? | A confirmed appointment and current release status |
The calendar can change the comparison
Keep the fiscal-year label attached when a port table enters a budget presentation. If your purchasing team works in calendar years, map the periods before comparing totals. A company's January-to-December purchasing record and a port fiscal-year total should not be placed side by side as though they describe the same twelve months. Where matching monthly observations are unavailable, leave the mismatch visible instead of inventing an adjustment.
The port's statistics page offers annual commerce material and a separate monthly loaded-TEU report. Those products serve different purposes. A completed annual total can support a broad retrospective; a monthly series can help examine timing if its definitions and coverage match the question. Neither publication contains your purchase-order commitments or receiving calendar.
Sources: [2]
The cargo page also presents refrigerated comparisons for fiscal 2024. Keep that year attached when discussing temperature-controlled freight. Moving that number under a fiscal 2025 headline would change its meaning. A port reefer measure also cannot establish the temperature instructions, product condition or receiving requirements for a particular shipment.
Sources: [1]
Bring the regional signal down to a shipment
For the next planning call, prepare a short list of known inbound orders with destination, approximate quantity, equipment requested and the milestone that makes each order available. Mark estimated dates as estimates. Ask the party controlling release to identify what remains outstanding, and ask the receiving facility to distinguish an available day from a confirmed appointment.
Then separate decisions that can be made now from those that depend on another party. You may be able to agree on the information needed for a quote while the pickup date remains unsettled. You may be able to identify a preferred delivery week while unloading arrangements still need confirmation. Keeping those decisions separate gives the carrier a clearer request and prevents a regional growth headline from becoming an unsupported promise of capacity.
Read the underlying evidence
Sources & scope
- Port Everglades cargo statistics
Port Everglades, Broward County
- Port Everglades commerce statistics and publication links
Port Everglades, Broward County
- Port Everglades Waterborne Commerce Chart, fiscal 2025 through 2016, preliminary
Port Everglades, Broward County
Source publication, data coverage and this article’s publication date are different records. Later revisions may change a series or practical interpretation.
Freight planning in practice: explore six illustrative scenarios
