Uncorking The Canal: Flowing Goods From Asia Through Panama To Port Manatee And Eastern U.S.

Something big is happening at Port Manatee. More specifically, something roughly 1,600 feet long and 41 feet deep is happening at one of Florida's largest and fastest-growing seaports.

In February, the Manatee County Port Authority announced its intention to seek bids for a major dredging project. Through the excavation and hydraulic dredging of nearly 760,000 cubic yards of sediment from Palmetto's Port Manatee, the port's new Berth 12 will be designed to accommodate containerized shipping, and is expected to be operational by the end of the year.

Port directors also approved the purchase of a second container crane and entered into a 15-year partnership with Logistec USA. The crane is expected to be installed and fully operational by October of this year. Furthermore, over the next several years, Port Manatee seeks to acquire more land for expansion and create further upgrades to increase container ship capacity in its proposed Berths 1 and 2 and in its northern sector. The port also plans to add new cold storage facilities, all of which combine in an ambitious effort to attract more major players in the shipping industry.

The expansions and innovations will allow the port to handle hundreds of thousands of containers of cargo per year, as opposed to the mere few thousand that it can currently handle. Analysts project container traffic through Port Manatee will triple over the next 20 years. The expansions should also create more jobs for people in Manatee County and the surrounding region. Although the numbers aren't official yet, the Manatee County Port Authority has estimated that the development of Berth 12 should create up to 970 new jobs at Port Manatee.

"What we have to do is distinguish ourselves," says Steve Tyndal, senior director of trade development and special products. "We are serious about being in the game. We are improving, and we will continue to improve. So far, we've managed to level the playing field in Manatee County and we're really starting to attract the bricks and mortar of the shipping industry."

The timing for this growth could not be more perfect, for it appears that the tides of international trade are soon to undergo some serious changes.

Capitalizing On Expanded Panama Canal

In 2007, the Republic of Panama embarked on its most ambitious undertaking since the canal's initial construction at the turn of the last century. Panama's $5.25 billion mega-project is intended to create another lane of traffic through the canal via a new set of locks. Construction on the third set of locks is projected to be completed by the canal's 100-year anniversary in August of 2014, and will more than double the canal's capacity. The location of the Panama Canal makes it a vital crossroads of trade for the Americas, as it serves as the bridge between two oceans, as well as the two continents.

The result? Serious implications for Florida's Gulf Coast, especially in the greater Tampa Bay region. Currently, most container ships carrying cargo from Asia to the United States unload their goods on the nation's West Coast, and those goods must then travel by rail to reach the eastern states.

Upon its slated 2014 completion, the Panama Canal expansion will finally allow the canal to handle larger ships, and more of them. The improved Panama Canal will provide for a much more direct nautical trade route between Asia and the eastern U.S.

Because Port Manatee is the nearest deep water port to the Panama Canal, it holds great potential as a burgeoning powerhouse on the international shipping scene, including increased trade between Latin America and the United States.

U.S. relations with Panama have been consistent and relatively positive over the last century, and there have been several significant steps taken in the past few years to draw the relationship even closer, particularly on Florida's Gulf Coast.

The United States is already Panama's greatest trade partner, accounting for 30 percent of the import market. Total bilateral trade between the two nations has grown by 150 percent over the past five years, reaching $5.3 billion in 2008 – and almost a third of this (which is a ninth of Panama's entire world trade) moves through Florida.

In 2005, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio led a trade mission to Panama in an effort to strengthen the country's economic alliance with Tampa. In 2008, the Tampa Panama Business Council formed to further promote cooperative relations between the business communities of the Tampa Bay region and the Republic of Panama. Upwards of 30 businesses and organizations now comprise the council, including the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, the World Trade Center Tampa Bay, Camelot Technologies Group of Land O' Lakes, Commercial Plastics Recycling of Tampa and Tampa Armature Works.

The Manatee and Sarasota Economic Development Councils (EDCs) are teaming up to embark on a mission to Panama this year, says Lauren Kratsch, the business development manager at Manatee County's EDC. According to Kratsch, delegates from the Florida District Export Council and Enterprise Florida are planning a trip in the fall, in an outreach effort to facilitate trade.

Furthermore, Port Manatee plans to co-host an event called "Opportunity Panama" on April 19th, in which leading business executives from Panama will travel to Florida to educate Tampa Bay businesses on the benefits of Panama's Colon Free Zone, which is the second-largest free trade zone in the world.

"Most Florida businesses don't realize how easy it is to be involved in international trade and commerce. It's not voodoo or smoke and mirrors," says Tyndal.

Increased trade with Latin America will not only stimulate economic revenue and the growth of tourism, but it can also help to create jobs.

Manatee, Tampa Ports Plan For Future

In May of 2009, Port Manatee Executive Director David L. McDonald and Alberto Alemán Zubieta, Panama Canal Authority administrator/CEO, engaged the two parties in a strategic alliance by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The objectives of the two-year partnership are: To boost joint marketing activities, to stimulate the exchange of market information between the two parties, to encourage collaboration on concepts of modernization and improvements, to develop joint training seminars and programs as well as cross-training activities, and to promote technological interchange. This alliance signifies a heightened interest in the exchange of intellectual property between the two entities, on top of the tremendous potential for the exchange of commercial products via the Panama Canal and Tampa Bay ports.

"At the time, Port Manatee was only the 10th out of 361 ports in the United States to enter a Memorandum of Understanding with the Panama Canal Authority,'' says Tyndal. "When they approached us with the proposal of an alliance, we were not a real container port. All of the other ports were. The Panamanians value us as something special, and I think that speaks volumes."

Port Manatee is not alone in its efforts to strengthen bonds with Panama and increase opportunity for commercial exchange.

The Tampa Port Authority, upon whose governing board sits Mayor Iorio, renewed its own long-standing MOU with the ACP in 2005. The
Tampa Port has also been expanding its container terminals and added a second mobile harbor crane in December of 2008. The sibling ports clearly have a similar agenda, although representatives from each insist that they are not in competition with one another. Each is working toward the same goal: to draw in more international business to and facilitate job opportunities in the greater Tampa Bay region.

Currently, most Florida trade with Panama goes through other ports – namely the Port of Miami and Port Everglades, says Tyndal.  There is a tremendous trade market just waiting to be tapped by Tampa Bay ports.

In the 2009 Commercial Guide for U.S. Companies, the U.S. Department of Commerce outlines the 10 best prospects for U.S. exports to Panama: wholesale and warehousing, building products, travel and tourism, telecommunications equipment, computers and peripherals, construction equipment, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, electrical power systems, security and safety equipment, and materials and handling machinery.

"This is a great opportunity for exporters to take advantage of both Port Manatee and the Tampa Port Authority. We're doing our best to educate exporters in the state of Florida what our location has to offer," Tyndal says.

Jessi Smith is a Sarasota-based freelance writer working from the dark corner tables in  local coffee houses and bars. Working, that is, during the occasional lapses in time when she isn't strolling through art galleries with a finely honed look of feigned intellectualism or digging her toes deep into the perfectly powdered sand on Siesta Key. Comments? Contact 83 Degrees.