Port of Tampa targets growth in containers

Port of Tampa targets growth in containers    The port of Tampa, Fla., aims to develop its container traffic as part of a 10-year plan for container terminal facilities development unveiled by its port authority.
   To be implemented in phases, the port plan will include the expansion of the current container facilities, called berths 212/213, located at the south end of Hooker’s Point. By January, the port will have completed its extension of berths 212/213 from 750 to 1,750 feet, and expansion of paved terminal storage area to 24 acres.
   Zim initiated a container service at Tampa last October, when it began calling at the port’s berths 212/213.
   “Including the rapidly expanding local market of West Central Florida, we are confident that the port of Tampa can competitively serve a market in excess of 200,000 TEUs,” said Wade Elliott, senior director of marketing at the port authority of Tampa.
   The port said it plans to acquire a container gantry crane within the next few months.    The port plan eventually envisages a terminal with 2,050 linear feet of berth, 54 acres of paved storage, a multi-lane gate, and three to four gantry cranes at a total investment of more than $70 million. The port has a 43-foot deepwater channel.
   The port authority said the region’s major exporters and importers “are keen to support the expansion of container services at the port.”
   According to ComPair Data, the global liner-shipping database, four international services call at the port of Tampa, operated by Caymand Islands Shipping, Isabella, Tropical Shipping and Zim. Zim’s “Gulf U.S.A.” feeder service connects to its transshipment hub in Kingston, Jamaica.