WorldCity Business Magazine

(3) International Trade - A Gateway Challenged

by WC

South Florida is still the gateway, but other U.S. Customs districts are eating into Miamis share of Latin America trade

Competition from Port Everglades in Broward County is biting into the Port of Miami, but South Florida is facing more serious competition from a number of other cities eager to have more international trade with Latin America and the Caribbean.

For the first time, Port Everglades surpassed the Port of Miami in container traffic in the 2006-2007 fiscal year, with nearly 950,000 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, the standard measure in the shipping industry. The Port of Miami, which surpassed 1 million TEUs two years ago, has seen its container traffic slip since then, and ended the 2006-2007 fiscal year with slightly fewer than 900,000 TEUs.

But the greater challenge is not each other.

The greater challenge to the Port of Miami, Port Everglades, the Port of Palm Beach and Miami International Airport lies outside of South Florida in Houston, Mobile, Ala., Los Angeles, New Orleans and Philadelphia. South Florida remains the top importexport destination for most leading nations of Latin America and the Caribbean, but it is seeing its market share diminished by other cities eager to nibble away at the Gateway to Latin America, as the Greater Miami area has long been known. It has also lost the No. 1 ranking with several countries over the last several years.

Brazil has long been South Floridas No. 1 trade partner, and it became the first nation to ever have more than $10 billion in annual trade with the Miami Customs district, which stretches from Fort Pierce to Key West.

More than 21 percent of all U.S. trade with Brazil occurred through South Florida in 2007, but thats down from 1999-2001 when the percentage topped 30 percent all three years, according to WORLDCITY analysis of U.S. Census data.

Since 2001, Houstons market share has increased from 9.5 percent to 14.3 percent while New Orleans has increased in that same time period from 6.6 percent to 11.2 percent. Whereas the two barely had half as much trade with Brazil as Miami in 2001, in 2007, their combined total surpassed Miamis for the second consecutive year. Brazil surpassed $50 billion in total U.S. trade in 2007 for the first time.

South Florida would seem to have a lock on trade with the Dominican Republic, given the geographic proximity, and in a sense it does. The Miami Customs district controlled 43.4 percent of all trade with the island nation in 2007 but that is the lowest percentage since 1996. New Orleans and Philadelphia have shown the most growth in recent years, with New Orleans increasing its market share 4.8 percent in 2004 to 8.1 percent in 2007 and Philadelphia increasing from 2.9 percent in 2002 to 7.5 percent in 2007.

South Florida also dominates U.S. trade with Colombia, which fell just shy of $1 billion in 2007. Overall, Colombia finished as South Floridas No. 3-ranked trade partner, up a notch from 2006.

The Miami Customs district handled slightly more than 27 percent of all trade with the Andean nation in 2007, WORLDCITY research shows. But that is the smallest market share in at least 15 years. Three of the last seven years, it has exceeded 30 percent and even topped 40 percent in 1994.

No single Customs district has gained significantly over the last handful of years, but Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, San Francisco and Los Angeles have all seen increases in the percentage of Colombian trade. San Francisco, while only at 4.2 percent for 2007, was at a far more meager 0.9 percent in 2003.

Houston is perhaps, overall, South Floridas chief competitor for business with Latin America. In 2006, it surpassed the Miami Customs district as the top Customs district for Chile, and it solidified that stature in 2007. Houston was responsible for 17.6 percent of the $17.3 billion in U.S. trade with Chile, or $3 billion, while South Florida accounted for $2.8 billion, or 15.9 percent.

Over the span of the last 15 years, only in 2006 did the Miami Customs district have a smaller market share. Also gaining significantly during that time period was Tampa, which has seen its market share with Chile increase from less than 1 percent as recently as 2001 to 12.5 percent in 2007. In 2006, it was second in importance to Miami, ahead of Houston. Chile sends copper through Tampa. Houston is also gaining market share with Peru, South Floridas No. 13-ranked trade partner. In 2007, Miami had $1.9 billion in two-way trade with Peru while Houston had $1.7 billion. But until recently, South Floridas trade with Peru was almost double Houstons. Houstons trade jumped significantly in 2004, from $525.4 million to $914.5 million. It surged again in 2005, and for that year, it surpassed Miami to be the leading Customs district trading with the Andean nation. In 2007, the market share was 20.1 percent for Miami and 18 percent for Houston.