With Tropical Storm Isaias Approaching, Florida’s Domestic Maritime Industry Capable of Supplying Sufficient Volume of Fuel to State’s Ports

JACKSONVILLE, July 30, 2020 – Florida Maritime Partnership (FMP), which represents the state’s domestic maritime industry including vessel operators, is monitoring Tropical Storm Isaias as it approaches Florida.  

With a tropical storm approaching, the fleet of domestic tankers serving Florida is operating normally with daily offloads at ports around the state. FMP operators are in close contact with the U.S. Coast Guard and with the Florida emergency response team. In cases where Florida faces severe weather, fuel will continue to be delivered as conditions permit. Vessels are safely positioned as storms approach and will be ready to offload as soon as ports allow re-entry. There are an estimated 30 tankers and 65 tug-barges operating in the Florida/Gulf Coast/Texas trade.  

In some cases, the supply chain faces challenges in transporting the fuel from the ports to gas stations, but this should not be interpreted by Florida residents as a fuel shortage. As Gov. Ron DeSantis noted last year in reference to Hurricane Dorian: “We have a lot of fuel in Florida. It’s just that we have limited capacity to bring it from the ports to the gas stations because you can only have so many trucks at one time” making those deliveries. 

“There are more than enough tankers to deliver fuel to the ports to restock what is drawn down at the gas stations,” said Samuel Norton, Chief Executive Officer of Overseas Shipholding Group, a Tampa-based operator of oil tankers and ATB’s. “The limiting factor is not the vessels – nor indeed the ports.”     

FMP’s member companies include Crowley Maritime, McAllister Towing, Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG), SEACOR, TOTE, Transportation Institute, American Maritime Officers, American Maritime Officers Service, American Waterways Operators, Dredging Contractors of America, Eagle LNG, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, Hendry Marine, JAXPORT, Kirby Corporation, Marine Towing of Tampa, and Seafarers International Union.   

About the Florida Maritime Partnership

The Florida Maritime Partnership (FMP) advocates for the state’s vibrant domestic maritime industry, which represents 66,000 American jobs and total annual economic impact of $14.6 billion.  

Our diverse membership includes vessel owners and operators, shipboard and shoreside workers, shipbuilders and repair yards, equipment manufacturers and vendors, dredging and marine construction contractors, numerous maritime associations and national security organizations that all recognize a strong domestic maritime industry is critical for America’s economic, national, and homeland security, and is best supported by maintaining the Jones Act as the foundation of America’s domestic maritime policy.