(The following story by Brian Neill appeared on the Bradenton Herald website on February 21.)
MANATEE, Fla. — Port Manatee officials were presented Thursday with several road maps for the port’s future that include nearly $500 million in potential development projects.
That development, which was detailed in a new master plan looking at the port’s potential growth to 2038, would solidify its status as a key player in the containerized cargo business, according to members of the consulting firm that completed the study.
“It’s time now to look to the future,” said Rob Hebert of the Tallahassee-based PBS&J consulting firm. “Where do we want to go now and what does Port Manatee want to grow up to be?”
The master plan contains four expansion proposals that range from merely lengthening an existing berth at a cost of about $260 million, to the creation of a dedicated container terminal and wharf on 181 acres to the north of the existing port, which would cost nearly $500 million to complete.
Funding is expected to come from a combination of port revenues and state grants.
The port authority accepted the information and may choose to move forward with any or none of the plans.
“The information we’re providing you today is a beginning, not an end,” said Ken Jones, vice president of PBS&J. “There are no recommendations. There is, however, a significant amount of information that will help the port authority and staff make important decisions for the growth and sustainability of the port.”
Port Manatee is readying for explosive growth in the container business as a number of factors converge to bring more ships containing the metal boxes filled with toys, furniture and other consumer goods to this coast.
The anticipated completion in the next few years of a CSX railroad hub near Winter Haven to route container-laden rail cars throughout the country, along with the widening of the Panama Canal, expected to wrap up in 2014, bode well for more container business in the near future, said Joan Sanchez-Schnettler, a consultant who worked on the master plan.
Port officials also anticipate an Interstate 75 connector road that would ease cargo transport in and out of the port could be operational by 2011.
Although Port Manatee has handled between 5,000 and 10,000 containers a year during the last decade, the port could easily be moving 47,000 containers by 2015, PBS&J officials said in the master plan.
By the numbers
5,000 to 10,000: Average number of containers moved annually through Port Manatee
47,000: Average number of containers that could be moving annually by 2015
$500 million: Potential cost of Port Manatee expansion projects extending to 2038