Port Manatee plans for costly new cargo mix, infrastructure

PORT MANATEE -- Though it is "poised and positioned for growth," Port Manatee needs a few things in the next five years if it is to be a leading Florida import-export hub.

Consultants writing the latest update to the port's master plan say that while the port is rich in land and potential, it needs money, a new import-export mix, heavy haul roads and expanded shipping routes.

During a public airing of some of these draft strategies at the port Thursday night, those consultants predicted that Port Manatee will need to plan its future around fuel and goods distribution, imports and container cargo as some of its traditional lines business, including phosphate exports and fruit juice, shrink. But to attract distributors, it must build better infrastructure and have land ready for commercial construction.

All of that, they said, will cost millions of dollars the port doesn't have.

Port consultant AECOM has been writing the update since June. The port and the state are splitting the $299,000 cost of the project. The final draft of the update is expected to be complete in December.

For the fee, AECOM is updating the master plan to extend it beyond the next five years and develop a maintenance plan spanning the next decade. The document will also include provisions for port-related development of nearby private property.

The presentation got members of the Manatee County Port Authority and a handful of local landowners talking. Alan Jones, one of the few people who control thousands of acres of private land neighboring the port, said he wants to see the pace of progress quicken. His 776 acres of potato fields in the Port Manatee Encouragement Zone could one day command a high selling price if distributors and manufacturers locate there.

Jones said the new iteration of the master plan should be presented to the state Legislature in early spring to get funding priority for projects, including a long-discussed widening of Buckeye Road.

"We've got to invest money in this port if we want to see it succeed," Jones said.

The gap between what the port hopes to be and what it will cost to get there was the biggest issue in the room. Franc Pigna, a consultant with the AECOM team, said Port Manatee is uniquely positioned to move goods coming from South and Central America throughout Florida. Currently, much of that cargo traffic is going through the Atlanta logistics hub before being distributed in Florida via truck and rail.

On its way to being home to 20 million people, Florida is one of the largest U.S. markets, Pigna said. That, he said, is incentive enough to get shippers to look at the state's west coast as a shipping destination.

Port Manatee's development as a major logistics hub for those imports is limited only by funding for infrastructure.

"You've got to be able to address that," he said.

New cargo mix

While the money discussion has been ongoing for years, AECOM brought a new perspective to the port's future business mix. Bill Ralph, an economist with the consulting team, said changing consumer tastes and the growth of the Florida market may pull the port into new markets. He predicts that 40 percent of the port's business will be in liquid bulk, mainly fuel, by 2025, up from 17 percent now. A port fuel distributor recently began supplying RaceTrac stations throughout Southwest Florida.

"More and more gasoline is going to be consumed along the west coast of Florida and that's going to come through Port Manatee," Ralph said.

Import business that could start winding down includes fruit juice, which Ralph said is becoming less popular on breakfast tables. Florida-mined phosphate, a fertilizer component, may also decline as an export as mining activities decrease across the state.

Annual business growth at the port should be about 8 percent over the next decade. That puts Port Manatee in rare company.

"Eight percent growth is something other ports around the United States would die for," Ralph said.

What, in addition to fuel, will be the next growth market for the port depends on what it can build for and sell. AECOM's consultants presented various growth scenarios, including processing auto imports from Mexico, running a Cuban ferry operation and seeking out new perishables imports. All those lines of business are already being pursued by the port.

Pigna said new warehouses, parking facilities and storage facilities needed for any of the scenarios will best be funded through public-private partnerships.

Local tax money and state funds would likely be required to build public infrastructure, including a new east-west connecting road with Interstate 75.

The updated master plan will go into effect after it is approved by the state either late this year or in early 2016.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027 or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Port Manatee plans for costly new cargo mix, infrastructure ."