Resilience, adaptation, perspective, and diversification are among the watchwords that come to mind when reflecting on the unprecedented year we have all just been through. These will also be important guideposts in 2021 and beyond, as we adapt to new ways of working and living that will have lasting effects well beyond the time when the pandemic is thankfully fully in our rearview mirror.
Consumer behavior and the explosion of e-commerce have reinforced the critical importance of being as close to your customer as possible, both literally and figuratively. Supply chains are being transformed; as for ports, their proximity to distribution centers serving large markets has proven crucial for last-mile delivery. Industrial real estate expansion and investment is red-hot in those regions to meet consumer expectations that packages get delivered in hours, rather than days. The ability to work remotely has accentuated demographic shifts as people relocate to regions based on cost of living, weather, and other quality-of-life factors.
These trends are accentuating the advantages already enjoyed by Port Tampa Bay as we continue to experience record growth in our container business, fueled by rapidly expanding distribution center capacity along the Tampa Bay/Orlando I-4 Corridor: Florida’s Distribution Hub. Companies in this region now enjoy significant savings in their supply chain distribution costs as truckers make as many as three to four round-trip deliveries per day from Port Tampa Bay to their distribution centers, which then service the entire state and reach into markets throughout the Southeast and beyond.
To keep pace with this rapid growth, the Port is busy expanding terminal capacity with additional paved storage, extended berths, cranes and equipment, and new transload warehouse facilities. The most recent expansion saw the addition of 25 acres of paved storage, bringing the total to 67 acres, with plans to add another 30 acres. Work has also begun on the addition of a third berth, which will bring the total to over 4,500 linear feet, allowing three large ships to be worked at the same time. Construction will soon begin on a new container gate, and the bid process is underway to acquire two additional gantry cranes.