Business
Port Manatee Growing in the Heart of Tampa Bay
Around the State
With the pending expansion of the Panama Canal on the horizon, and an eye on a free Cuba, Port Manatee is bristling with opportunities as executives have created a special economic development zone on neighboring land that is hoped to double and even triple capacity in the coming decades.
Similar to enterprise zones that offer incentives to businesses, the port has crafted a 5,000-acre encouragement zone that has so far drawn interest from at least seven companies that would serve as port-related distribution centers.
“We’re ideally situated to the highway, with direct access to the interstate,” said Port Manatee Executive Director Carlos Buqueras. “We have extensive and inexpensive land that is already zoned for distribution centers, so essentially we can recreate what I think Savannah has done in bringing distribution centers to drive additional volume.”
Besides highways that offer smooth travel across the nation, the port is linked with the CSX rail lines.
And while all the attention has gone toward digging the Port of Miami to a depth of 50 feet in preparation for the expected increase in trade through the expansion of the Panama Canal, millions of dollars have also been spent in the past year to bring Port Manatee to 41 feet.
Buqueras added that the port, which is promoting its close links to rail that provides quick access to the nation’s heartland, plans to jump quickly when Cuba is opened for trade with the United States.
“You have to be prepared when trade resumes that the buyers and sellers are going to need to do business,” he said.
Port Manatee
Located at the entrance to Tampa Bay, between the Tampa Bay Estuarine Ecosystem and Terra Ceia State Park, east of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
Imports and exports: Fresh produce, forestry products, petroleum products, citrus juice products, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, automobiles, cement and aggregate.
Port Manatee is Fresh Del Monte Produce’s second largest U.S. port facility.
Regional economic impact: $2.3 billion.
Cargo: 8.03 million tons a year (by comparison, Port of Tampa 37.15 tons).
Projected cargo for fiscal year 2014/15: 20.83 million tons.
Port Manatee is a dependent special district created by the Florida Legislature in 1967. The port is governed by the Manatee County Port Authority -- a seven-member oversight board which sets policy and oversees major expenditures for the port.
Seven questions with Port Manatee Executive Director Carlos Buqueras
SSN: Where does Port Manatee view itself in the footprint of Gov. Scott’s dream to attract more growth from the Panama Canal expansion?
Buqueras: The Panama Canal, front and center, resets the playing field for trade opportunities for Florida in particular. Not all ports will benefit directly. The ships coming through the canal draft up to 50 feet. At this point, not one port is up to 50 feet. So we’re all at this point in the proverbial boat together.
Having said that, we’re at 41-, 42-feet, which is where Port Everglades is with 1 million containers a year coming through.
So you don’t need to be at 50 feet to handle in excess of 800,000 to 900,000 containers a year.
The trade pattern is more than transcanal, for Florida; there has been trade that is north-south.
In the future, when we have a resumption of trade with Cuba that will be another boost for Port Manatee.
Although we’re not counting on it financially, at some point we’re going to need to be ready for that in addition to the canal.
SSN: What is the desired growth in the next five to 20 years for the port?
Similar to enterprise zones that offer incentives to businesses, the port has crafted a 5,000-acre encouragement zone that has so far drawn interest from at least seven companies that would serve as port-related distribution centers.
Besides highways that offer smooth travel across the nation, the port is linked with the CSX rail lines.
And while all the attention has gone toward digging the Port of Miami to a depth of 50 feet in preparation for the expected increase in trade through the expansion of the Panama Canal, millions of dollars have also been spent in the past year to bring Port Manatee to 41 feet.
Buqueras added that the port, which is promoting its close links to rail that provides quick access to the nation’s heartland, plans to jump quickly when Cuba is opened for trade with the United States.
“You have to be prepared when trade resumes that the buyers and sellers are going to need to do business,” he said.
Port Manatee
Imports and exports: Fresh produce, forestry products, petroleum products, citrus juice products, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, automobiles, cement and aggregate.
Port Manatee is Fresh Del Monte Produce’s second largest U.S. port facility.
Regional economic impact: $2.3 billion.
Cargo: 8.03 million tons a year (by comparison, Port of Tampa 37.15 tons).
Projected cargo for fiscal year 2014/15: 20.83 million tons.
Port Manatee is a dependent special district created by the Florida Legislature in 1967. The port is governed by the Manatee County Port Authority -- a seven-member oversight board which sets policy and oversees major expenditures for the port.
Seven questions with Port Manatee Executive Director Carlos Buqueras
SSN: Where does Port Manatee view itself in the footprint of Gov. Scott’s dream to attract more growth from the Panama Canal expansion?
Buqueras: The Panama Canal, front and center, resets the playing field for trade opportunities for Florida in particular. Not all ports will benefit directly. The ships coming through the canal draft up to 50 feet. At this point, not one port is up to 50 feet. So we’re all at this point in the proverbial boat together.
Having said that, we’re at 41-, 42-feet, which is where Port Everglades is with 1 million containers a year coming through.
So you don’t need to be at 50 feet to handle in excess of 800,000 to 900,000 containers a year.
The trade pattern is more than transcanal, for Florida; there has been trade that is north-south.
In the future, when we have a resumption of trade with Cuba that will be another boost for Port Manatee.
Although we’re not counting on it financially, at some point we’re going to need to be ready for that in addition to the canal.
SSN: What is the desired growth in the next five to 20 years for the port?
Comments (1)
For shippers, trucks are only cost-effective within a 200-250 mile radius from the port, so highways don't really connect Port Manatee to markets across the nation. The competitive advantage is their good rail connectivity, which gives them access to major consumptive markets in the northeast and midwest.