Perspectives: Covid impact

Marine industry With up to 2,000 mega-yachts visiting its shores every year, Fort Lauderdale is known as “the Yachting Capital of the World” for good reason, and the amount of economic activity that the marine industry supports is truly staggering. Family cruising, yachts, fishing, and the services supporting these areas account for 121,000 jobs and $9.7 billion in economic output in Broward County and 149,000 jobs and $12.5 billion in output regionally. Altogether, the industry brings in about $4 billion in wages that are 16% higher than the state average.

The star of the industry is undoubtedly Port Everglades, the official port of Fort Lauderdale, a huge entrepôt for goods as well as the third-largest cruise port in the world, welcoming 3 million passengers a year to its 11 massive terminals. Pre-pandemic, Port Everglades would directly employ 13,000 people (supporting $500 million in salaries), bring $30.4 billion into the economy and generate over a billion dollars in tax revenue.

The pandemic’s effects were most felt in the cruise sector. The CDC issued a “No Sail Order” in March, effectively putting a stop to Port Everglades’ biggest revenue stream. In FY2019, cruise traffic had been ( )

Jon Burkard

President – Allied Marine March 2020 was an okay month because we were still doing business from before but in April, we only saw a few sales. In May, we closed a large number of boats, giving us great confidence that our plans and e orts were working. Thankfully, we’ve had really great months since. People really do want to go out on a boat. They think it’s a really great way to distance while still keeping the family involved and together.

Joseph Farrell

CEO – Resolve Marine With greater access to vaccines and changes in travel restrictions, we are hopeful that logistical challenges will ease up, enabling us to provide greater assistance. In addition, we have learned an immense amount about change and how to make our organization more agile. 2020 has been a great learning experience and the opportunities we have experienced will enable Resolve to continue to improve response operations.