Virgin Trains from PortMiami to Orlando green lighted

This week Miami-Dade Commissioners gave the OK for Virgin Trains to build a $53.3 million dollar train station at PortMiami. The train will allow passengers to travel from Orlando to Miami in 3 hours, about 30 minutes faster than current driving times, and will connect two of Florida’s most visited tourist destinations: Walt Disney World and PortMiami.

The agreement upholds a reduction of tariffs from 15% to 7.5% on Chinese goods for the U.S. consumer market but does not go so far as to change the 25% duty on thousands of other Chinese goods and materials, the brunt of which has been felt primarily U.S. importers.

The full text of the trade agreement is contained in the NPR article below.

Miami Today: Virgin Train to run from PortMiami to Disney World

Superhero themed WTDC Annual Halloween Party

We had a super afternoon at our WTDC Annual Halloween Party yesterday! Thank you to all all our tenants and employees for your participation. We pick a theme for costumes each year and this year we decided on Superheroes; there were some great costumes!

Welcome Andres Junco

Welcome to the team Andres Junco! Mr. Junco earned a B.A. in International Affairs from Florida State University and is working with WTDC Operations and Customer Service. Congrats!

Update: Trump National Doral will not host G7 Summit 2020

In our last newsletter, we highlighted President Trump’s decision to host the G7 Summit at Trump National Doral in Doral, FL. That decision was reversed on October 20, 2019, due to bipartisan opposition. Click below for more from CNN:

CNN: Trump reverses course on using Doral resort for G7 summit

GRIs go into effect for Transpacific Eastbound container carriers

Today, November 1, General Rate Increases (GRIs) between $700 and $1000 per 40′ container went into effect for Transpacific Eastbound container carriers American President Lines (APL), CMA CGM, COSCO, Evergreen, Hapag Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant, Ocean Network Express (ONE), and Yang Ming. Click below to read more from the October edition of the Signals publication:

The Carnival Foundation has pledged over $1 million from the Arison family and $250,000 to the Red Cross on behalf of its 5 cruise lines that sail from Australia. The Red Cross has also received pledges of $250,000 from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and $100,000 from Singapore Airlines. We applaud these companies and while the recovery efforts may take years or even decades there is solace in knowing that companies are stepping up to assist Australia in its time of need.

Signals: Transpacific Eastbound Carriers File GRIs Effective October 15 and November 1, 2019

Air Cargo Americas 2019

This week WTDC attended Air Cargo Americas 2019 hosted by World Trade Center Miami at the Miami Airport & Convention Center. It was a great opportunity to meet air carriers face to face and to see our colleagues from Miami International Airport, PortMiami, Miami-Dade College Supply Chain Management Program, Magaya, and our worldwide transportation network partners at WCA.Attending from WTDC were Sean P. Gazitua, President & CEO, Castell Chavez, Transportation Manager, and Sean Powers, Sales and Marketing Manager, pictured above left to right.

WTDC Freight Forwarding