Produce importer expands at Port Everglades

Florida container terminal Port Everglades is expanding the amount of space it leases to Sol Shipping Services, a produce importer that signed a five-year lease on a marine terminal and planned to expand in 2018, the port announced Wednesday.

Sol's primary business is shipping melons from Central America to South Florida, requiring at least 16,000 container moves annually, according to the port. To handle that volume, Sol approved the lease on a 6.54-acre marine terminal and guaranteed it would move to a 7-acre site in June 2018, the port said.

Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Sol has been moving its cargo of cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelons through Port Everglades, the state's busiest containerport, since 1993, and has used a smaller, 5.34-acre facility since 2012.

The Sol expansion comes as Port Everglades rolls out a plan for a new logistics center scheduled to launch in 2019.