In our latest Dispatches edition, we took a look at how the port industry is kicking-off in 2021. Needless to say, Port Everglades and California’s Port of Hueneme caught our attention.

Port Everglades in Broward County, Florida, welcomed the new year with the first call of a cargo ship arriving from the U.S. Maritime Administration’s new Marine Highway. National Shipping of America’s American-flagged vessel National Glory followed Marine Highway M-10, which begins in Houston and extends east, to pick up containers in Port Everglades for delivery at the end of the M-10 line: in Puerto Rico.

“This service product has economic, environmental and safety advantages with the objective of taking trucks off the road,” says Torey Presti, president of National Shipping Agencies, Inc.

On the opposite coast, the Port of Hueneme in California recently heralded the U.S. Department of Transportation’s official designation of the SEA LINC Project. Formally known as Spurring Economic Advantages with Logistical Investments for New Connectivity, the project aims to move cargo off federal and state highways by shifting the cargo to barge along Marine Highway M-5 instead.

“The successful designation of this project is another example of how we are thinking outside of the box to grow our services at the port, while reducing the impacts on our environment,” said Oxnard Harbor District Board President Jess J. Ramirez.