Florida Marine Services Industry — 2026

Florida's marine services industry encompasses commercial port operations, recreational boatbuilding and repair, superyacht refit and service, marine transportation, commercial fishing, and ocean-dependent tourism — collectively constituting what state and federal analysts categorize as the ocean economy. The structural foundation of the industry is geographic: Florida's 8,436 miles of coastline, spanning the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf Coast, and the Florida Keys, simultaneously support port commerce, recreational boating, fisheries, and maritime trade. In 2023, this combined ocean-related activity sustained approximately 909,000 jobs, generated $59 billion in labor income, and contributed $96 billion to Gross State Product, representing more than 6% of the state's total economic output, according to the Florida Atlantic University Office of Ocean Economy's inaugural annual report, published in August 2025. Florida ranks first among all states in ocean economy employment. The industry is anchored institutionally by 16 publicly owned seaports overseen through the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development Council, and concentrated in boatbuilding and marine services clusters along the Treasure Coast and throughout Southeast Florida.

The federal framework for measuring marine economic activity, NOAA's Economics: National Ocean Watch (Open ENOW) program, classifies the ocean economy into six sectors: marine construction, offshore mineral resources, tourism and recreation, ship and boat building, living resources, and marine transportation. Florida's ocean economy, as documented by the NOAA Digital Coast 2024 Marine Economy Report for Florida, spans all six of these sectors. In March 2026, NOAA released an updated Open ENOW dataset covering the years 2001 through 2024, the first version to capture the full post-COVID recovery arc in marine sector employment nationally, where the ocean economy employs approximately 3.7 million workers and tourism and recreation ranks as the largest sector by employment.

Within Florida, average wages across all marine sectors cluster in the $60,000 to $70,000 range in 2025 dollars. Marine transportation is the highest-paying individual sector, with average wages of approximately $78,000, according to FAU's ocean economy at-a-glance analysis, which draws on SFRPC methodology integrating QCEW, ENOW, REMI, and IMPLAN data. The domestic maritime industry operating under the Jones Act — the federal law governing U.S.-flag vessels in domestic waterborne commerce — generated 65,990 jobs and $14.6 billion in economic impact in Florida, according to a 2020 study commissioned by the American Maritime Partnership. The tri-county South Florida marine industry alone generates $4.7 billion in annual economic impact, per a Thomas J. Murray & Associates study referenced by the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County.

Florida operates 16 publicly owned seaports, each subject to legislative oversight through the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development (FSTED) Council, a statutory body created in 1990 under Florida Statute. The FSTED Council is required by law to publish an annual Seaport Mission Plan documenting statewide seaport health, capabilities, and investment priorities. The Florida Department of Transportation Seaport Office administers the council, and in 2026 FSTED released the 2026–2030 Florida Seaport Mission Plan, outlining multi-year capital investment priorities that include dock rehabilitation, port capacity expansion, cargo container handling improvements, and intermodal connectivity.

Beginning in fiscal year 2024–2025, the Intermodal Logistics Center Infrastructure Support Program makes available up to $15 million annually from the State Transportation Trust Fund for five consecutive years, directed toward road, rail, and conveyance improvements linked to Florida seaports. Florida seaports handle multiple cargo categories tracked by FDOT: containerized cargo (dry and refrigerated), petroleum and liquid bulk, steel and forest products, automobiles and roll-on/roll-off cargo, dry bulk including aggregates, phosphate, and minerals, and breakbulk. Port Everglades, operated by Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, generated nearly $28.1 billion in annual economic activity in fiscal year 2024, according to a commissioned economic impact report. JAXPORT in Jacksonville handles significant roll-on/roll-off automotive cargo for the northeast region, while Port Tampa Bay ranks as one of the state's largest cargo ports by tonnage. The Florida Ports Council's 2022 seaports report noted all Florida seaports as positioned for growth amid realignment in global trade routes, with FSTED's annual reporting tracking both cargo volumes and cruise passenger counts statewide.

Florida is among the leading states in the United States for retail sales of new powerboats, engines, trailers, and accessories, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. The NMMA's January 2026 industry outlook reported that aftermarket accessories spending and boating participation nationally reached $24.5 billion in 2024, on par with post-COVID highs, while new powerboat retail unit sales fell an estimated 8 to 10 percent in 2025 to approximately 215,000 to 225,000 units, reflecting broader economic headwinds on discretionary spending. Nationally, the NMMA reports that the U.S. recreational boating industry supports more than 812,000 jobs and more than 36,000 businesses, with approximately 95% of boats sold in the country manufactured domestically.

Florida's primary recreational boatbuilding manufacturing cluster is located on the Treasure Coast — St. Lucie, Indian River, and Martin counties — and on the Space Coast. Companies with manufacturing operations in this zone include Maverick Boat Group, Pursuit Boats, Willis Custom Yachts, and Contender Boats. The Southeast Florida corridor, particularly Broward County, anchors the superyacht refit and megayacht services sector, supported by the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and a concentration of certified repair facilities, marine electronics firms, and parts distributors. The Marine Industries Association of South Florida received approval from the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2016 to operate a marine industry Foreign Trade Zone subzone, facilitating international marine commerce for the region.

Florida's marine services industry is geographically distributed across distinct regional clusters, each oriented toward different segments of the broader ocean economy. The Southeast Florida corridor — Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties — is organized around superyacht refit, marine retail, and yacht services, with institutional coordination through the Marine Industries Association of South Florida. The Treasure Coast and Space Coast constitute the state's primary recreational boatbuilding manufacturing zone. Tampa Bay hosts Port Tampa Bay, one of the state's largest ports by cargo tonnage, serving as a central node for liquid bulk and dry cargo serving the Tampa metropolitan area and the broader Gulf Coast supply chain.

Jacksonville and JAXPORT anchor marine commerce in northeast Florida, handling roll-on/roll-off automotive cargo alongside containerized goods. Along the Panhandle and northwest Florida, commercial fishing fleets operate from ports in Pensacola, Panama City, and Apalachicola, linking the living resources sector to Gulf fisheries. The Florida Keys and the southwest Gulf Coast, including Naples and Fort Myers, concentrate on recreational marine services, charter fishing, and ecotourism. The FAU Office of Ocean Economy characterizes the ocean economy as connecting both urban and rural Florida, with economic effects extending well inland through supply chains and household spending, such that marine services in coastal counties generate employment and revenue in counties with no direct coastal frontage.

The Marine Industries Association of South Florida serves as the primary industry organization for the tri-county Southeast Florida marine cluster and is a founding member of the Marine Research Hub of South Florida, a nonprofit consortium with eight founding members: MIASF, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida International University's Marine Sciences Program and Medina Aquarius Program, Nova Southeastern University's Guy Harvey Oceanographic Center and Halmos College of Natural Sciences, and the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, as documented by MIASF.

Workforce shortages in high-skill marine trades, particularly for yacht service technicians, have been documented across the South Florida marine corridor. In response, MIASF administers the Yacht Service Technician Apprenticeship Program, a two-year registered apprenticeship approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce, designed to address the documented shortage of qualified marine trades workers. At the state level, the Florida legislature established the Florida Office of Ocean Economy in 2024, housed at Florida Atlantic University, to coordinate business development, research, capital attraction, and policy across ocean-linked industries statewide. The office's partners include state agencies, multiple Florida universities, federal agencies including NOAA and the U.S. Department of Energy, and private-sector marine technology firms.

In August 2025, Florida Atlantic University published the inaugural annual report of the Florida Office of Ocean Economy, an office established by the Florida legislature in 2024 under Governor Ron DeSantis. The report documented the 2023 ocean economy figures — 909,000 jobs, $59 billion in labor income, and $96 billion in Gross State Product — and defined the office's mission as positioning Florida as a global leader in ocean-linked industries through coordinated policy and investment. The office operates with partners spanning state agencies, Florida universities, federal agencies including NOAA and the U.S. Department of Energy, and private marine technology innovators.

In March 2026, NOAA released an updated Open ENOW dataset covering 2001 through 2024, the first extension of the dataset to include 2024 data and the first to capture the complete post-COVID recovery arc in marine sector employment at the national and state levels. In 2026, FDOT's FSTED Council released the 2026–2030 Florida Seaport Mission Plan, establishing multi-year capital investment priorities across all 16 active Florida seaports, with the Intermodal Logistics Center Infrastructure Support Program continuing to make available up to $15 million annually from the State Transportation Trust Fund through fiscal year 2028–2029. The MIASF Yacht Service Technician Apprenticeship Program continues operation as an active registered apprenticeship, reflecting ongoing workforce development needs in Florida's marine trades sector.