Ports Are Open: Ron DeSantis Announces Global Shipping Company Moving Some Operations from California to Florida

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Friday that the global shipping company Sea-Lead Shipping is moving part of its operations from California to Jacksonville, Florida — another victory for the governor, whose state’s ports have increased their capacity to help alleviate the nationwide supply chain crisis.

Speaking from Jacksonville, Florida, DeSantis spoke of the continued supply chain disruptions caused largely by “bad COVID policy,” which has continued to increase prices of goods. While he emphasized that Florida cannot control federal fiscal policy, the state is trying to alleviate the burden and has been for months.

Last fall, DeSantis made it clear that Florida ports remained open, with some even offering incentives for businesses to move their cargo through Sunshine State ports. This has proven to be successful, as the Port of Miami, for instance, saw an increase in cargo in 2021, and much of it was attributed to imports from Asia that would normally go to California. However, they redirected to Florida “because they know they can operate efficiently,” DeSantis said.

He also noted that the Port of Tampa saw an increase in container tonnage with huge jumps in building materials, and Port Everglades has seen growth up 25 percent year to date.

As a result, Sea-Lead Shipping, headquartered in Singapore, is moving part of its operations from California to “wonderfully efficient and less congested JaxPort here in Jacksonville, Florida,” DeSantis announced, adding that it was “looking for a way to avoid congestion on the west coast and chose JAXPORT” after problems with backups and congestion at the Port of Long Beach. It is now positioned to reach “more than 98 million U.S. consumers within one day without the hassle of unnecessary delays that we’ve seen in other seaports throughout the country,” he added.

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