Jun 16, 2020 (bizjournals.com)

Port Tampa Bay has won a nearly $20 million grant to help expand its container terminal with a new berth at its Hooker’s Point property.

The port received a $19.8 million grant as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program. The project is expected to enhance the port’s container capacity and revive waterfront property on a deepwater channel, Tampa Bay Business Journal previously reported.

Port Tampa Bay will use the grant money to complete the Berth 214 project, an intermodal project to connect cargo that arrives by ship to road or rail. With the grant, the port will construct a new, 1,300-foot-long berth and a 30-acre container yard, according to the port’s Tuesday announcement.

The project will expand the container capacity by 60 percent, increase the number of deep draft container vessels the port can receive, improve efficiency with a state-of-the-art truck gate, and improve rail access, the port announced.

The expansion is needed here as the port relies on diverse lines of business — from the cruise business to cargo and container growth. Cruises, leases and bulk cargo make up 73 percent of the port’s fiscal year 2020 operating revenue. The commodities that move through the port reach major distribution hubs along the Interstate 4 corridor.

Currently, the property consists of Berths 212 and 213, which are used by COSCO, one of the largest container shipping companies in the world, Mediterranean Shipping Co., CMA CGM, Zim American Integrated Shipping and Maersk. Berth 214 would be to the south of those berths.

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