Florida's Container Coast.(Port Everglades )

BYLINE: William B. Cassidy

When you work the phones at Port Everglades, it's not unusual to get a call from a tourist hoping to book an airboat.

Despite its name, the port, surrounded by Fort Lauderdale on three sides and facing the Atlantic Ocean, is closer to the beachfront resorts that line Route A1A than gator country.

It's so close to the Fort Lauderdale International Airport that its seven low-profile gantry cranes retract horizontally rather than vertically. "We're right under the flight path," said Andy Deering, Port Everglades' business development manager.

"We like to say we're just one stoplight from the rest of the United States," said Deering. "Leave the port and it's a very short distance to I-95, a very short distance to the international airport." …