Why did the mayor go to Japan? Delegation from Miami has info on flights, tech, waste

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South Florida travelers shouldn’t expect direct flights from Japan anytime soon, however, they may get help with a new incinerator the county wants to build to handle waste.

That was the take-home message from a 10-day trip to Japan co-led by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava that ended this week.

Levine Cava and the delegation, which returned to Miami International Airport on Wednesday night, had several goals related to transportation and infrastructure, the Miami Herald reported last month. The goal: to stimulate more industry and investment between Japan and South Florida.

One of the priorities is to meet with Japan Airlines and continue to promote direct flights between the world’s third-largest economy and South Florida. Mayor Levine Cava; Ralph Cutie, director and CEO of the Miami-Dade Aviation Department; and Alfred Sanchez, president of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, met with JAL leaders on Nov. 30.

However, what they have heard is that it appears that such a service appears to be at least a year away, based on one-on-one interviews with them after the trip.

JAL officials told the Miami-Dade delegation that they have not yet recovered from the pandemic and are focused on resuming existing foreign routes and the company’s monetary performance.

“They made it clear that they had suffered economic losses,” Levine Cava said, and that “their first job until the end of 2024 is to repair those roads. “

Cutie said, “They’re still recovering economically from COVID and they’ve made that clear. “

Does that mean expansion to Miami or greater Florida will likely have to wait until 2025?

At the same time, Levine Cava and Cutie argued that prioritizing the new service to Miami could give JAL more advantages than resuming some of the airline’s old routes, especially given adjustments in migration to the U. S. and Canada. South Florida’s new appeal to the transportation, finance and generation sectors has been underway since the pandemic and South Florida’s new attraction.

“We really said, ‘Maybe it’s necessary to know if some of those [old] addresses might not be as successful as our new direction because of the model conversion,'” the mayor said.

Cutie provided lots of numbers including Miami International Airport’s record passenger volume. Levine Cava recounted, “Ralph did a great job of presenting very compelling data on why it made sense for Japan Airlines to do a direct flight.”

According to her, JAL is seriously thinking about it. Our direct address would possibly be better for you than one of your previous addresses,” Cutie said, summarizing the case brought through him and Levine Cava.

Sanchez also came out optimistic. He said JAL expects at least three new aircraft that they have ordered and that they need to have two or three in flying condition between Tokyo and Florida before agreeing to start the new flight. “I’d probably be surprised if I didn’t get a direct flight. “

The question is: when?

Although no known industrial agreements were finalized during this trip, several spaces showed promise and some discussions are advancing that may generate economic benefits for the region in the coming years.

, Japan is Florida’s second largest importer of merchandise, totaling $9 billion in 2022. Automobile and aerospace are key sectors.

Japan also exports to South Florida. Hitachi Rail has provided several train cars to Miami-Dade Transit’s Metrorail system. The parent company of Brightline, the yellow train that goes from Miami to Orlando, was SoftBank until earlier this year.

The newest industry builds on previous visits from other Florida political leaders.

In April, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led an industrial project in Japan, where he met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and business leaders, as well as executives from All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines. In October, the state hosted a meeting led through tourism developer SelectFlorida and Secretary of State Cord Byrd.

Levine Cava co-led the organization with Oliver Gilbert III, president of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and county commission. According to the camera, another 50 people came from Miami. All companies paid their own contribution, according to Sanchez.

Also in attendance were County Commissioners Marleine Bastien, Juan Carlos Bermudez and Kevin Marino Cabrera.

The organization spent eight nights at the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo and two nights Friday and Saturday at the Hyatt Regency in Kyoto, according to a copy of the organization’s itinerary received via the Miami Herald through a public records request. They departed Miami International Airport in the early morning hours of Nov. 25 bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport where they took a nonstop flight to Tokyo. They flew back to Los Angeles International Airport. They flew with American Airlines until the end.

Levine Cava accompanied by 3 collaborators: Johanna Cervone, staff leader; Francesca de Quesada Covey, Director of Economic Development and Innovation; and Maria Dreyfus-Ulvert, Miami-Dade County Commerce Specialist, according to an email from Natalia Jaramillo, the mayor’s deputy communications director. Levine Cava said he didn’t bring his sergeant-at-arms for security reasons.

Through the mayor and her three staffers, they charge taxpayers just over $32,000.

Breaking that down, Levine Cava and her chief of staff Cervone’s travels cost a combined a total of $17,884.11 and came from the office of the mayor, wrote Jaramillo. Covey and Dreyfus-Ulvert cost a combined $14,325.24 and was from the economic development’s budget.

The Herald also asked for the charge for any gifts received or won an open records request. Jaramillo responded that “these expenses will be shared as soon as the delegation submits its gift declarations. “

The Herald has implemented that the charge be registered for all four county commissioners.

In addition to the airline’s executives, the organization also visited the Sakura Environmental Center and the Suginami Incinerator Plant, two waste control facilities.

“We have deepened our knowledge of waste control practices,” Cava said.

Hitachi is the Japanese company that built that incinerator and is already part of an organization of companies competing to upgrade Doral County’s waste treatment facilities that got stuck earlier this year and then closed, the mayor said.

The county will now award a contract to a representative to represent it through the next stages of bidder selection.

It’s too early to hurt Hitachi’s chances, the mayor said. They would bring valuable Japanese experience, though they would most likely have to partner with a U. S. company, he said. You still have to go somewhere.

The organization also visited the Port of Yokohama, where the mayor signed an agreement to identify a formal framework for collaboration in areas such as port development, infrastructure, port security and environmental initiatives.

The delegation also promoted Miami as a fast-growing tech hub. He sought to sell the city as a position that Japanese corporations could use as an anchor to boost the U. S. market position and expand their businesses into Latin American and Caribbean market positions.

“Our goal is to make it clear that they need to have a greater presence in our market,” Levine Cava said. “And not just from the company’s point of view, but also from the investors’ point of view. “

They met with Sompo, Japan’s second-largest asset insurance company. The company has already announced that it will open one in Miami next June. While not yet active in the homeowners insurance market in the region, it is a primary provider of crop insurance to U. S. farmers.

Sanchez of the Greater Miami Chamber said Sompo shared an idea, developing a private-public partnership for property insurance, that could help reduce the risk of home insurance. While it was a preliminary discussion, “what struck me is their creativity,” he said.

Meanwhile, the mayor thinks Sompo may be part of the housing solution in South Florida.

“They have a lot of capital to invest,” he said, and “maybe they’ll just invest in the housing market, in housing for workers. “

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