Port Canaveral, Port Everglades and the Port of Tampa are in line to receive $35 million next year to expand their facilities through a state program for strategic port investments.
As part of an effort to position the state's 15 seaports as a single global shipping hub, Gov. Rick Scott announced Wednesday he will recommend that the Legislature allocate the money to the projects.
The announcement came during an appearance at the American Association of Port Authorities convention in Orlando.
Scott said in a release the funding will "enhance our ports' ability to move more goods which will position Florida to play an even greater role in global trade."
Florida Ports Council President and CEO Doug Wheeler said the money "will further position Florida as the gateway to the Americas and beyond.
The legislative funding is in addition to money Scott has already floated from the Department of Transportation into the dredging at PortMiami ($75 million) and to JaxPort ($36 million).
The state remains hopeful the federal government will repay those dollars.
Scott's announcement came two days after the Florida Chamber of Commerce released a study highlighting the need to increase funding for ports, rail, airports and roads to retain the state's trade with the Caribbean and Latin America. The state's share of U.S. exports to the Caribbean and Latin America has dropped 4 percent over the past decade.
The study also pushes for Florida ports to work together against other ports along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts in an effort to capture sea traffic from Asia that has grown via the Suez Canal and that is expected to further increase as larger ships travel through a widened Panama Canal.
The chamber study is a follow-up to its 2010 Trade and Logistics study that called for increased funding for the ports to capture the anticipated increase in global trade through an expanded Panama Canal.
The 2010 study has been used as a blueprint by Scott and the Legislature as lawmakers have increased seaport funding from $117 million in 2011 to about $288 million this year through money set aside for specific port projects and bonding.