Andy Hecker
Deputy Port Director
Miami-Dade County Seaport Department, PortMiami
Miami Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Andy Hecker (voiceover): I'm Andy Hecker at the Miami-Dade County Seaport Department, PortMiami. PortMiami under the leadership of our mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, is one of the largest economic generators within Miami-Dade County and the greater Florida regions. The port generates 234,000 jobs across the region and $43 billion in annual economic benefits. As there's been a significant growth in international trade that benefit both US businesses, both importing and exporting, coastal ports facilitate that trade back and forth between the United States and other regions of the world.
In discussions with the Federal Reserve, we share information on the cargo side, in which nations we see increasing or flattening volumes and among which commodities. And then on the cruise side, where we see trends going and what our experiences have been and how that activity is flowing throughout the economy within our region.
We appreciate the opportunity for us to be considered in the greater set of data that the Federal Reserve uses to determine monetary policy. And then we also use this information in comparison to what the Fed shares with us to see if we have outliers or if we're in line with where the economy is going in general.
The Federal Reserve uses the information that we provide in conjunction with similar data and similar conversations with other entities and organizations to get a macro feel on where certain trends along certain industry lines and economic forces within the United States are heading, and hopefully, that helps in determining sound monetary policy for the United States.