USA: Port Tampa Bay to Expand Its Container Capacity

After Governor Rick Scott’s signing of a funding package, Port Tampa Bay said that the port authority will now have the funds to purchase new post-Panamax gantry cranes to expand throughput capacity at the port’s growing container terminal—a $12 million boon for the state’s largest and most diversified port.

Port Tampa Bay’s strategic investment in post-Panamax cranes will enable it to serve the ever increasing container vessels being deployed by the regional and global carriers.

“Port Tampa Bay is very fortunate to be in a time of growth and a time of unprecedented support on the state level for port projects that will pay dividends for future generations, create jobs and untold economic impact,” Paul Anderson, port president and CEO, said. “This funding is consistent with the Governor’s tremendous strategic vision of investment in our state’s seaport infrastructure to strengthen our state’s competitiveness and role as a global gateway for trade.”

Port Tampa Bay’s container terminal, at 40 acres, has a throughput capacity of about a quarter-million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year. A central focus of the port’s growth moving forward, the port authority continues to invest in container yard-related infrastructure and upland improvements in order to meet the needs of a huge and rapidly growing consumer market in west and central Florida.

At full build out, the container terminal will be a sprawling 160 acres, with one million TEU throughput capacity. Together, these new cranes will position Port Tampa Bay to capture cargo that has been moving via out-of-state ports, supporting much needed container service to the region, including along the I-4 corridor.

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Press Release, June 16, 2014