Port accepts Tampa's reassurance that it's not poaching business

PORT MANATEE -- Responding to news coverage painting his port's business plan as potentially predatory, Port Tampa Bay chief executive Paul Anderson is reassuring other Florida ports -- including Port Manatee -- his sales force is not going after their clients.

Anderson, who last year attended one of two state-sponsored forums intended to patch up a damaged relationship between Port Tampa Bay and Port Manatee, sent a letter to all the state's port directors to clarify published remarks made by his chief commercial officer, Raul Alfonso. After the port's state of the port event late last month, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported Alfonso said Port Tampa Bay would "absolutely" target container and automobile processing business held by other ports.

In his Jan. 28 letter, Anderson said his port is only "targeting the Florida-bound cargo that does not flow through any of the state's ports." He said the comment was taken out of context.

At Port Manatee, Executive Director Carlos Buqueras took Anderson at his word. Port Manatee has a growing cargo container business and has negotiated bringing national auto processing company Pasha Group to the port to engage in the U.S.-Mexico vehicle trade.

"I think that remarks can be taken out of context and that's likely that's what occurred," Buqueras said.

Alfonso's remarks to the media and Anderson's letter did stir a bit of alarm for Carol Whitmore, chairwoman of the Manatee Port Authority. She's seen her share of conflict between the ports. Over the course of a year in 2013 and 2014, the two ports clashed over a rumor Port Tampa Bay was interested in merging with Port Manatee. Relations got particularly tense when Port Tampa Bay hosted a pineapple trade con

ference from which Port Manatee was barred.

From the news coverage of the state of the port event she read, Whitmore said she was concerned the ports' relationship had taken another bad turn.

"I was glad Mr. Anderson clarified," she said.

The two ports have worked together over the years on several fronts, particularly when it comes to port security. Port Manatee trains Port Tampa Bay security personnel.

Buqueras said the two ports only stand to benefit if they work together to build their business portfolios.

"It's in our mutual best interests to cooperate," he said. "We are always seeking to expand our cooperation with the Port of Tampa Bay."

Port Manatee is aggressively seeking new business and is in the process of improving port facilities to accommodate it. The port recently received $700,000 in federal money, which will be used to study deepening Port Manatee waterways to 45 feet. Deeper water, plus a planned rebuild of most of the port's shipping berths, would increase its capacity to take in more and heavier cargo ships.

Last year, Port Manatee handled about 14,000 20-foot cargo containers. Buqueras expects that number to double in two to three years. By comparison, Port Tampa Bay handled more than 47,000 containers last year.

Port Manatee has yet to start bringing automobiles in for import and export. It recently stopped active communication with Volkswagen about handling its vehicles, but is still "maintaining an open dialog" with all other vehicle manufacturers. Any automaker seeking to use the port to process its vehicles on their way to market would do so through Pasha, Buqueras said.

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

This story was originally published February 16, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Port accepts Tampa's reassurance that it's not poaching business ."