South Florida trade shattered records in 2012

It was a golden year for international trade through the Miami Customs District in 2012, as South Florida’s airports and seaports handled a record $124.73 billion worth of trade and cracked into the nation’s Top 10 customs districts for the first time.

But the Miami district’s top exports and imports were also golden. Since 2009, gold from countries such as Colombia, Mexico, Guyana and Peru has been South Florida’s top import as skittish investors bought the precious metal, pushing its price to lofty heights. In 2012, gold also became the top export of the Miami district, which includes airports and seaports from Miami to Key West.

Last year the district imported a record $7.25 billion worth of gold — a 42 percent increase over the previous year, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by WorldCity, a Coral Gables media company that focuses on U.S. connections to the global economy.

But almost as quickly as the gold arrives, it is shipped out, primarily to Switzerland and to other European countries in smaller amounts. Last year the Miami district exported a record $7.93 billion worth of gold.

The gold business is a “relatively recent phenomenon,’’ Ken Roberts, president of WorldCity, said at a Trade Connections event in Coral Gables Friday that analyzed the past year’s trade numbers.

Global economic uncertainty, he said, has driven people to the safety of gold and that has pushed up prices. Not only are central banks buying gold; so are many jittery investors.

Miami became the nation’s leading importer of gold in 2009 but imports only totaled $2.14 billion then. Over the past 10 years, the Miami district’s gold imports have increased by 2,420 percent and gold exports are up a whopping 13,433 percent. That corresponds with a huge run-up in the price of gold over the past decade — gold prices increased from around $300 an ounce in mid-February 2002 to $1,730 an ounce in mid-February 2012.

But the volume of gold trade through Miami also has increased.

Roberts noted that overall, Miami district exports increased to a record $73.3 billion, up nearly 6 percent from the previous year, and imports totaled a record $51.4 billion — a 17 percent increase.

Most interesting, said Roberts, is that the Miami District made its move into the ranks of the nation’s Top 10 Customs districts, by value of trade, at a time when the U.S. economy has been sluggish. But 30 percent of Miami’s trade is with South American, Central America and the Caribbean, and many of the Latin economies have been relatively resilient throughout the U.S. downturn.

Brazil remained the Miami district’s No. 1 trading partner in 2012 with $16.4 billion in total trade — a 6.4 percent increase.

“Brazil has had a tremendous decade and they’re a little smug about it,’’ said Scott Miller, a senior adviser at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and former director of global trade policy at Procter & Gamble. “It’s a tough place to do business and they know it and don’t seem to want to do much about it.’’

Miami traders acknowledge that restrictions and high tariffs make the Brazilian market difficult, but Latin America’s largest economy is so big and diverse that it’s still very attractive. Brazil also is the top source of international visitors to Miami-Dade County.

Colombia, with $9.89 billion in trade with the Miami district, was the 2012 runner-up, and Switzerland, with $8.8 billion in trade with South Florida, was third.

But trade statistics only tell part of the story of international commerce.

Miller pointed out that increasingly, world trade involves the exchange of components rather than finished goods. If one takes out oil, he said, half the world’s trade is in components.

He pointed to Apple’s iPhone, which is made in China from U.S. and Japanese chips, a screen from Malaysia and other components from around the world. “So many things today are made in the world,’’ rather than manufactured start to finish in one location, said Miller. “What is really being done is that we make things together.’’

Every iPhone that is imported into the United States, he said, adds $178 to the U.S. trade deficit, but that doesn’t take into account all the jobs created by Apple’s inventions and design development, its sophisticated customer service system and its marketing apparatus.

“Stop looking at trade as a competition,’’ he said. “It’s a mutually beneficial exchange.’’

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Dolphins take stadium pitch to Miami Gardens

The Miami Dolphins took their Sun Life Stadium renovations pitch on the road Thursday, highlighting support from a county commissioner and the mayor of Miami Gardens, the team’s hometown for 26 years.

The politicians’ backing carries weight in the city that perhaps knows the Dolphins best.

But that neighborly history also has made some people in Miami Gardens skeptical about the team’s promises of economic benefits from the planned $400 million in renovations, about of half of which would be funded by taxes.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan, Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert and Dolphins CEO Mike Dee stressed that upgrading the stadium to attract more international soccer games and concerts during the football offseason would employ more locals, bring customers to the city’s shops and restaurants, and spur development on vacant parcels nearby.

“When people come to a Super Bowl or a national championship in Miami Gardens, they eat on Brickell, and they sleep on South Beach. And they shop in our stores. They support our businesses,” Gilbert said. “That’s what this is about.”

He called the Dolphins “our largest taxpayer and a vital community partner.” The team sponsors some of the city’s biggest events, including the annual Jazz in the Gardens festival.

But that has not done much to assuage the concerns of others in the city, who say Miami Gardens has received little payoff from being home to the stadium.

“I’m a Dolphins fan, but I have to say, very honestly, there has not been an incredible windfall to this community,” said former City Councilman André Williams.

Williams said the city should draw up a marketing plan to lure sports fans and event-goers to nearby businesses, to ensure that any deal to receive county taxes makes sense.

The Dolphins’ proposed financing plan relies on a new annual $3 million state subsidy and a hike of county mainland hotel taxes to 7 percent from 6 percent.

The state money could go instead to public services, Jordan acknowledged Thursday.

“Those dollars do go to schools, and to roads and highways,” she said. But other teams receive state subsidies from sales-tax revenue they help generate, and the Dolphins deserve more of that money, she added.

“It’s bringing our money back to our community — I don’t see a problem with that,” she said.

On Monday, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, whom commissioners tasked with negotiating with the team, announced that the Dolphins had reversed their position and agreed to put a potential deal for tax dollars to a public vote — before May 22, when NFL owners will award the 2016 and ’17 Super Bowls.

As part of its campaign to drum up support, the team held Thursday’s news conference at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex in Miami Gardens, down the street from the stadium.

Dolphins players and coaches sometimes volunteer at the complex, Jordan said. But there was irony to the location: Ferguson, a former county commissioner, burst onto the political scene leading the opposition to the stadium.

Ten-year-old Miami Gardens, the county’s third-largest city, didn’t exist at the time. Instead, Ferguson rallied residents from the Crestview and Rolling Oaks communities. A homeowners association filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the county, arguing building the facility would break up middle-class black neighborhoods.

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Nikita Black Badge Exclusive Promo

Nikita has long been one of the most dynamic and rewarding dramas on television. It's also consistently been one of the most underrated. But you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone that isn't coated in a thick layer of goosebumps after watching ETonline's exclusive new promo for the upcoming episodes!

RELATED - TV's Saddest Death Scenes

Featuring first look footage from the next two all-new episodes, Black Badge and With Fire, the two-minute sneak peek opens with a bang, and ends in a fiery blaze.

RELATED - What's Next on The CW's Arrow?

But before the clip comes to a close, Ryan poses an all-important question to Nikita: Is Division inherently bad or is the elite ops agency only as bad as the people in charge?

Tune in Fridays at 9 p.m. to see how Nikita answers that question!

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Apology from bronzed pol who waited out Nemo in the Caribbean while residents suffered

The bungling Long Island politician who basked in the warmth of a Caribbean vacation while his constituents suffered through winter storm Nemo finally offered an apology yesterday.

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine said he regretted the comically inept response to the snow storm and shunted blame onto the town’s highway department.

Superintendent Michael Murphy was forced to resign after calling in sick for the entirety of the snowstorm with what he termed an “emergency toothache.”

Infuriated residents in large portions of the town didn’t see a single plow until several days after Nemo hit with many people unable to leave their homes.

“I want to say to the people of Brookhaven that I’m sorry that the storm happened and I’m particularly sorry that I wasn’t here when it occurred,” Romaine said. “I understand their frustration and their anger. Please accept my apologies.”

Appearing tanned and well rested after his Jamaican getaway, Romaine promised wide reaching snow removal reforms in the coming weeks.

While acknowledging that his absence during the chaos was unseemly, Romaine stressed that he and the board he heads do not have amy direct control over the highway department.

The embattled supervisor’s handlers tightly controlled yesterday’s news conference and refused to take questions from assembled media.

Coram resident Ken Tax was marooned in his home for several days before plows finally showed up this past Monday.

“The whole thing was just ridiculous,” he said, adding that he wasn’t willing to embrace Romaine’s mea culpable just yet. “if this is just another town apology them no, I don’t accept it.”

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American Airlines, US Airways announce merger

After a nearly yearlong courtship, the union became official Thursday: American Airlines and US Airways have formally announced plans to merge.

An early morning announcement by the airlines confirmed reports widely circulated after boards of both companies approved the merger late Wednesday.

The move brings stability to one of Miami-Dade County’s largest private employers more than a year after the airline and its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving the fate of thousands of employees — and the largest carrier at Miami International Airport — in question.

According to the Thursday announcement, the deal was approved unanimously by the boards of both companies, creating the world’s biggest airline with implied market value of nearly $11 billion, based on the Wednesday closing price of US Airways stock. The airline will have close to 100,000 employees, 1,500 aircraft, $38.7 billion in combined revenue.

The deal must be approved by American’s bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators, but no major hurdles are expected. The process is expected to take about six months, according to a letter sent to employees Thursday by American CEO Tom Horton.

Travelers won’t notice immediate changes. The new airline will be called American Airlines. It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are merged, and possibly years before the two airlines are fully combined. The new airline will be a member of the oneWorld airlines frequent flier alliance.

And for Miami travelers, it’s unlikely that much will change at any point. American and regional carrier American Eagle handled 68 percent of traffic at the airport last year, while US Airways accounted for just 2 percent. American boasts 328 flights to 114 destinations from Miami.

“We don’t expect any substantial changes at MIA if the merger occurs because our traffic is largely driven by the strength of the Miami market and not the airlines serving it,” said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

American has said for more than a year that its long-term plan calls for increasing departures at key hubs, including Miami, by 20 percent. That pledge has already started to materialize; in recent months, the airline has added new service to Asuncion, Paraguay and Roatán, Honduras.

During its bankruptcy restructuring, about 400 American employees lost jobs, leaving American and its regional carrier, American Eagle, with 9,894 employees in Miami-Dade County and 43 in Fort Lauderdale. US Airways has few employees in the area.

“It really isn’t going to affect Miami in a very major way anytime soon,” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant in Evergreen, Colo. “Only because US Airways isn’t a big player in South Florida.”

At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, American and US Airways combined would still only be the fifth-largest airline after Southwest, Spirit, JetBlue and Delta, a spokesman said. The two airlines have little overlap in routes from Fort Lauderdale.

Despite the lack of major changes, Boyd said the merger would be a good development for Miami.

“It should be positive for the employees and it should be positive for the communities that the airlines serve,” he said.

Robert Herbst, an independent airline analyst and consultant, said US Airways will add a “significant amount” of destinations in the Northeast, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

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Miami-Dade’s airport and seaport thriving, directors say

At PortMiami, the $1 billion port tunnel project that connects the mainland to Dodge Island is on time and on budget, several new cruise ships will soon call the port home, and the deep dredging at Government Cut means the port will soon be able to support the huge vessels that will cruise through the new Panama Canal.

Miami International Airport, meanwhile, has undergone a $6.3 billion overhaul, completed a 72-lane Customs and immigration facility designed to speed up passenger traffic to connecting flights, and could soon embark on a massive mixed-use project dubbed Airport City.

Those and other improvements were highlighted Wednesday during the annual “state of the ports’’ luncheon, a two-hour gathering of nearly 1,100 people at the Miami Airport Convention Center.

“There has never been a more exciting time at Miami International Airport than right now,” said Airport Director Jose Abreu.

Said Port Miami Director Bill Johnson: “2012 was a very good year, but looking ahead — and I like to look ahead — I can tell you that we are well positioned to continue our successes.”

Johnson credited PortMiami with helping create 207,000 jobs last year. Abreu said MIA broke a traffic record last year with 39.5 million passengers.

Abreu was hired in 2005 to turn around the limping airport renovation project. His last day with the county is March 31. He’s taking a consulting job with Pennsylvania-based construction and engineering company that has a Miami office.

“At the end of the day I’m a civil engineer,” he said. “They brought me in there to finish the capital improvement project, and we did.”

Despite all the cheerleading, not everything at Miami-Dade’s ports is hunky-dory.

Cargo freight at PortMiami has seen only modest gains since the economy tanked in 2008. There’s still the threat of a union strike that could cripple cargo movement across the country, and the port’s largest passenger cruise client, Carnival Cruise Lines, has had three on-board ship fires — including one this week — that have left vessels stranded at sea in recent years.

At the airport, despite the completion of the $180 million state-of-the-art immigration and Customs facility at the North Terminal, Abreu has been arguing with the feds about a lack of personnel. The airport director said he was promised enough staff to operate the 72 lanes, but only has enough workers to operate half that number.

“People are still missing connections; it’s an issue,” he said.

Few doubt that the proposed Airport City would make a great addition to MIA. The $827 million, 41-acre project would let visitors shop, eat, play, and work all within a short ride on the airport’s new MIA Mover. But politics could get in the way.

That’s because Odebrecht USA — the developer on the project — is a subsidiary of a Brazilian engineering-and-construction conglomerate that has another affiliate doing work in the Port of Mariel. That prompted local lawmakers to sponsor state legislation last year that would halt state and local governments from hiring firms whose affiliates work in Cuba.

The law was found unconstitutional, but the state is appealing.

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Grammys Crasher: Are the Oscars Next?

Is the Grammy Crasher targeting the Oscars next? Should the Academy be concerned that the 24-year-old Ukrainian reporter will target Hollywood's biggest awards event? ET's Rob Marciano gets answers from Hollywood's newest prankster.

PICS: Candid Grammy Moments

"Adele is going to be there -- maybe I will sit next to her, I don't know," says Vitalii Sediuk, who managed to not only get through security at Sunday's Grammys to take an open seat in the second row – but jumped onstage right before Adele accepted her Grammy win. "I just beg you, Academy, don't ban me. I just want to broadcast nobly and be a part of your show. I will be good guy."

Despite heightened security at the 55th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Sediuk managed to not only get inside the venue, but interview celebrities on the red carpet and sit in Adam Levine's seat, forcing the Maroon 5 frontman to sit on the floor. After interrupting the show to take the stage, he landed a night in jail and a March court date.

VIDEO: Meet the Man Who Crashed the Grammys

Sediuk previously made headlines with other celebrity close encounters, handing Madonna flowers at a press event and kissing Will Smith on the red carpet, prompting the Men in Black star to smack him in the face.

So, is the audacious reporter going to be allowed back on the red carpet? We have a feeling that security will specifically be on the lookout on Oscar night…

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JFK airport staffer allowed Kanye West and Kim Kardashian to sneak past security checkpoints

VLNY / Sharky / Splash News

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

Celebrity lovebirds Kanye West and Kim Kardashian forced an airplane full of travelers to wait for takeoff at JFK after an airline employee allowed them to bypass security screening, sources told The Post.

The stars -- who were running late for an American Airlines flight – were ushered around a security checkpoint before boarding the plane from New York to Los Angeles yesterday.

But airport officials got wind of the special treatment and yanked them off the plane – giving them a private pat-down and delaying the flight by nearly an hour.

The stars arrived in JFK on a flight from Rio De Janeiro, where they were celebrating Carnaval. They cleared Customs and were through the baggage area when the airline employee gave them the unsolicited escort through a restricted area, the sources said.

Rules require all airline passengers to pass through the TSA security checkpoint at the airport.

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Now owned by top executives, Cruise Planners on course toward continued growth

With a background in travel and present-day focus on raising her two small children, Lori Jahner set out to find work she enjoyed that would give her the flexibility she needed.

The 33-year-old from Aurora, Colo. decided on Cruise Planners — American Express Travel, a home-based travel agent network headquartered in Coral Springs.

“They have so much training to offer, ongoing education, and the branded name alone is so reputable and distinctive,” Jahner said. “Out of all the ones that I kind of looked into, this is the one that was standing out. More or less, it’s just the perfect opportunity so that I can do what I love, which is raising my kids but also selling travel.”

She has plenty of company. More than 850 franchise owners around the country are actively selling travel through Cruise Planners after paying startup costs that range from zero to $9,995. Those costs cover initial and continued training, marketing and advertising programs, a website, accounting and customer management software and support from the home office.

Fueled by everyone from stay-at-home moms to firefighters and retirees, the number of franchisees has grown by 14 percent annually for the last few years.

That has not gone unnoticed by cruise lines, who welcome more voices pitching their product.

“I think they are very important,” said Camille Olivere, Norwegian Cruise Line’s senior vice president of sales in North America. “They’re big supporters of ours and they’re bringing new people into the industry — and that is something that we desperately need.”

Cruise Planners agents sold $156 million in travel and related services last year, a 16 percent increase over 2011 and 48 percent jump over 2009.

Confident in continued growth, top Cruise Planners executives bought the company late last year from Palm Beach Capital, the private equity firm that had been majority owner since 2007.

CEO Michelle Fee, who has always held a stake in the company and now owns 50 percent, said she and fellow owners chief financial officer Tom Kruszewski and chief operating officer Vicky Garcia did not want to risk Cruise Planners being taken over by another investment group that might try to make changes.

“We wanted to make sure that whatever we keep doing is in the best interest of the company,” said Kruszewski, 60.

Before, Fee said, agents often asked whether the investment company would try to sell or change Cruise Planners. She said the purchase sends a good message.

“It shows them that we’re in this with you,” said Fee, 50, who co-founded the company with two partners 19 years ago. Those partners retired in 2007.

The company has invested about $2 million in technology upgrades and equipment in the last few years, including a mobile reservations system for agents that was introduced about a year and a half ago, and a consumer mobile app for iPhones and Androids that should launch later this month.

“We just have to be cutting edge,” Fee said. “Travel is technology; we have to be there with the big guys. Not only are we matching them, but we want to be better.”

Janet Fernandez, who started her Crise Planners franchise, Cruise Impressions, last July after working in different parts of the cruise industry since 1998, said she is already taking advantage of the latest tech innovations.

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MIA director to unveil Airport City project at annual speech

The futuristic plan for Miami International Airport envisions newly arrived visitors checking in at a four-star hotel to relax at a pool, corporate executives hopping onto a people mover to meet at a business center minutes away, and locals crossing the street from the terminal to pick up Fido at the pet spa.

And the airport wouldn’t pay a cent to build any of it.

Instead, a private developer, Odebrecht USA, would finance the $512 million project. In return, Odebrecht would run the new facilities for half a century, paying rent and a percentage of revenues to the county.

This is Airport City, a massive project — in the works for nearly five years — intended to create new funding sources for the airport by turning MIA into a travel destination itself.

On Wednesday, Miami-Dade Aviation Director José Abreu will announce at the annual “state of the ports” speech, delivered with PortMiami Director Bill Johnson, that, three years after the county selected Odebrecht’s bid for the project, Airport City will come before county commissioners for approval next month.

“This can be the future,” Abreu said in an interview, calling Airport City “essential for us to be able to move forward.”

The reason: The more money the county-owned airport makes from non-aviation sources such as concessions, the lower the landing fees and other charges have to be paid by the airlines that bear the financial burden of operating MIA. During Odebrecht’s 40-year agreement with the county, with an option to renew for 10 more years, the airport could receive nearly $580 million in operating revenues.

“The more business we get, the more the airport gets,” said Gilberto Neves, president and CEO of Odebrecht. The company approached the county with the Airport City idea more than four years ago. Miami-Dade later put the project out for bids, and Odebrecht won.

Airport City would represent a capstone of sorts for MIA, which has spent about $6.3 billion and more than a decade — partly because of delays, cost overruns and, in some cases, corruption — expanding. The airport’s chief contractor: Odebrecht, which, as part of a joint venture with Parsons, upgraded the North Terminal, built a new South Terminal and put up the rails for the MIA Mover train that connects the airport Metrorail station to the terminal.

For Abreu, who was hired in 2005 to take control of the troubled capital-improvements program, launching an airport city — like the ones that exist in places such as Beijing, Frankfurt and Dallas/Fort Worth — is part of the legacy he hopes to leave when he retires at the end of March.

“The great thing about it is, it doesn’t hit our books” to develop the project, Abreu said. “There’s no downside.”

As part of the project, Odebrecht , which is working on a $4 billion mixed-use Rio de Janeiro port redevelopment project known as “Porto Maravilha,” would make the investment — and take on the risk — to develop, in phases, 41 acres east of the airport’s terminals and parking garages.

The county would retain ownership of the land, and the assets would revert to Miami-Dade at the end of Odebrecht’s agreement.

The project is divided into three parcels:

• A $359 million business center, with corporate offices, meeting space, a hotel and a new station for the MIA Mover train;

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