Hurricane Irma: Airports, Seaports and Rail Mostly Returned to Normalcy

Gateway Logistics Group • September 13, 2017

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Airports, seaports and rail operations in Florida mostly returned to normalcy Wednesday following a devastating strike by Hurricane Irma earlier this week.

Flights have resumed at most Florida airports, but the prospect of delays and cancellations remained Wednesday as airlines rebooted their schedules there. As of 3 p.m. ET, more than 1,000 flights had been canceled nationwide for Wednesday and another 485 for Thursday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Nearly all of those came on flights to or from one of four airports: Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale. Even looking ahead to Friday, more than 230 U.S. flights had already been canceled – mostly in Miami – as of Wednesday afternoon. 

Hurricane Irma devastated St. Martin’s world-famous Princess Juliana Airport and caused major damage at the airport on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The airport on Key West has reopened for military aid flights, and Lakeland Linder Regional Airport in Central Airport is being used as a staging ground for humanitarian flights.

Florida’s main sea ports began to reopen Tuesday. Port Everglades reopened fully, but PortMiami, JAXPORT and Port of Tampa opened with restrictions. Most gates and terminals are open for truck and cargo operations, but the size of vessels allowed to call may be limited.

PortEverglades: Open

PortMiami: Open

Daytime and nighttime vessel operations may resume under normal port conditions.

All PortMiami’s marine cargo terminals are open for truck and gate operations

Port of Palm Beach: Open

Expects to resume vessel traffic in the afternoon on Wednesday, pending U.S. Coast Guard approval.

JAXPORT (Jacksonville): Open

Currently open to shallow water vessels 500 gross tons or less pending further assessment of harbor conditions by the U.S. Coast Guard. 

All other vessel traffic remains prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port.

Port of Savannah: Open with no restrictions

Port of Charleston: Open with no restrictions

CSX and Florida East Coast Railway are also resuming operations at limited capacity, although they warn of delays

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