Port of Tampa numbers reflect diversification

Port of Tampa numbers reflect diversification The Port of Tampa's fiscal year 2007 results reflect its success in diversifying its cargo base, with container volumes up sharply and the port's mixture of bulk cargoes shifting into more diverse commodities.
   Tampa has always been the highest-tonnage Florida port, due to shipments of phosphate from central Florida phosphate rock mines to international and domestic customers. Phosphate is a key ingredient in fertilizers used in agriculture, and Florida is the biggest U.S. phosphate producer. Tampa has averaged around 50 million tons a year in bulk shipments over the last 25 years, largely as a result of the phosphate market.
   But phosphate exports from Tampa have been declining since the peak years of the early 1980s. As international competition has increased and demand from key phosphate consumers like China have decreased, Tampa has been following a strategy of diversifying its cargo base.
   Richard Wainio, port director and chief executive officer, said in his annual 'State of the Port' address last week last week that dry bulk is still king at the port, and phosphate remains an important part of overall port business, but bulk tonnage is now based on a mix of several different commodities.
   Most notably, Wainio said, the port has become a gateway for fuel, handling almost 20 million tons of fuels, including jet fuel for the Central Florida region's airports, as well as gasoline for the growing regional population and tourists.
   Aggregates for building materials, primarily cement and other aggregate materials used in buildings and road construction, now totals almost 4 million tons a year. The port has signed new lease agreements with several large cement and aggregate companies, and officials believe the volumes of these building materials will triple over the next six years.
   Total bulk cargo in fiscal year 2007 decreased to 43.9 million tons, from 47.3 million tons in fiscal year 2006.
   While total bulk tonnage was down, container shipments increased 63 percent to 39,653 TEUs, from 24,273 TEUs in fiscal year 2006, while container tonnage nearly doubled. General cargo tonnage, which includes breakbulk cargoes, increased 7.6 percent to 1.37 million tons.
   The increase in container volumes came primarily from the introduction of a new all-water service from Asia by Zim Integrated Shipping Services and its vessel-sharing partner Emirates Shipping Line.
   Wainio said central Florida's population base is the key to container growth, with nearly 8 million people living within 100 miles of the port.