Port Manatee has reported that it has handled 83% more containers in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, compared to the previous fiscal year.
In the just-ended fiscal year, Port Manatee’s docks saw moves of more than 25,000 TEU, compared with more than 14,000 in the prior 12 months.
Containerised imports were up 65% to more than 15,000 TEU from 9,400, while exports more than doubled, rising 119% to more than 10,000 TEU.
Carlos Buqueras, Executive Director at Port Manatee, said: “The upturn is indicative of a very encouraging trend. Port Manatee is on the right track in diversifying its business and generating more jobs for Manatee County.”
Much of the gain is attributable to World Direct Shipping’s weekly service, which began in November, 2014 between Port Manatee and the Port of Coatzacoalcos, in the southern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz.
Fact File: Located ‘Where Tampa Bay Meets the Gulf of Mexico’, Port Manatee is the closest US deepwater seaport to the expanding Panama Canal, with ten 40-foot-draft berths serving container, bulk, breakbulk, heavylift, project and general cargo customers. The port generates more than US$2.3 billion in annual economic impact for the local community, while supporting more than 24,000 jobs, without levying ad-valorem taxes.
