COVID-19 threatens 169,000 maritime jobs; Florida’s ports seek federal aid

Florida’s seaports are asking Washington for at least $3.5 billion in aid for U.S. ports after the coronavirus pandemic all but brought the state’s maritime industry to a halt, eliminating thousands of jobs.

From Port Everglades, PortMiami and the Port of Palm Beach, to several other ports around the state, cruise lines halted sailings and cargo operations slowed substantially, the Florida Ports Council said. The advocacy group said a maritime research firm concluded “nearly 169,000 Florida jobs and almost $23 billion in economic activity in the state is estimated to be lost” in 2020.

The firm, Martin Associates, said the year is expected to end with decreased cargo shipments and nearly 5 million fewer cruise passengers passing through Florida seaports than in 2019. The cruise industry, which serves multiple ports in the state with its heaviest concentrations at Broward County’s Port Everglades and Miami-Dade County’s PortMiami, halted operations in March and is not expected to return to the high seas until November.

“Job losses include those directly supporting cruise and cargo activity at Florida ports, as well as those lost as a result of the disruption to the supply chain and the maritime transportation system,” the council said in a statement.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Florida’s first-time jobless claims sharply declined by 17,503 to 73,955 for the week ended Aug. 1 in a sign that the state is slowly steadying itself from the horrific economic slowdown the economy suffered in the second quarter. But economists warned that the economy still has far to go to recover.

Democrat and Republican lawmakers in Washington were continuing efforts to negotiate an extension of federal relief for millions of unemployed. Groups representing a variety of industries hit hard by unemployment peppered House and Senate offices in Washington with requests for help.

The ports council added its pitch to the mix this week with a letter to Congress seeking at least $3.5 billion in relief for U.S. seaports for “emergency response, cleaning, staffing, workforce retention, paid leave, procurement of protective health equipment, debt service payments and lost revenue.”

In a letter addressed to Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, council president and CEO Doug Wheeler said that before the pandemic the state’s seaports “accounted for more than 900,000 direct and indirect jobs.”

The Martin Associates job loss analysis would cut the figure to 731,000.

“Emergency relief funds will close a huge gap in current federal emergency assistance that has left critical links in the maritime supply chain isolated,” Wheeler said.