1. many ports have had to dredge channels to allow ships with drafts of up to 40 feet.

Miami is using its chunk of the state funding for the port's 'deep dredge' that will give it a 50-foot ship channel, making it the only port south of Virginia with that much water.

Out of the total $704 million, the state Department of Transportation has penciled in $111 million for Jacksonville, ranking it third in the state behind Miami's port and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. The budget signed last week by Scott contains $284 million for ports, which comes on top of $420 million the state poured into them over the past three years, according to the state Department of Transportation. Rick Scott, chambers of commerce and think tanks that resulted in a record-setting amount of spending on Florida ports in the fiscal year starting July 1. That Support Our Port mission to Tallahassee in March was part of a years-long push by port authorities, influential legislators, Gov. As Florida lawmakers plunged into one of their most decisive sessions ever for seaports, a group of Support Our Port volunteers arrived from Jacksonville and hand delivered sacks filled with 15,000 letters backing port expansion.

1. many ports have had to dredge channels to allow ships with drafts of up to 40 feet.