The four working cargo ports along the Florida Gulf Coast are taking hold of a diversity of opportunities related to proximity to Mexico, the expanding Panama Canal, a surging Sunshine State population base and the offshore energy industry. In addition, while the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in January green-lighted dredging of the channel at the Port of Port St. Joe, boosting confidence in re-establishment of operations at that central Florida Panhandle port, plans appear to no longer be advancing for development of the proposed Port Citrus along a 15-foot-deep barge canal in Citrus County, about 90 miles north of Tampa. Beginning near the entrance to Tampa Bay and heading north, then west along the Florida Panhandle, here’s the latest at major ports in operation along the Gulf Coast of the Sunshine State: Port Manatee The big news at Port Manatee is its receipt of full federal funding for the feasibility study related to deepening of its channel and harbor area. It is the only Florida waterway and one of just 10 in the entire continental United States to get such funding in the fiscal 2016 civil works budget announced Feb. 2 by President Obama. A harbor depth of 45 feet, versus the current 40 feet, would position the diverse port to more fully capitalize upon its position as the closest U.S. deepwater port to the expanding Panama Canal. Meanwhile, Port Manatee recently added direct weekly service with the Port of Coatzacolcos, in the Mexican state of Veracruz, offered by a new company, World Direct Shipping, while other cross-Gulf of Mexico activity includes exports of scrap metal. Looking to further benefit from proximity to Mexico, Port Manatee, with The Pasha Group, is advancing plans for development of a roll-on/roll-off terminal and vehicle processing facility. Port Tampa Bay Florida’s largest cargo port, Port Tampa Bay, is looking to raise its container-handling profile – literally and figuratively – with two new post-Panamax gantry cranes slated to be in place in early 2016, about the same time Panama Canal expansion is targeted for completion. The cranes join two smaller gantries already in place at Port Tampa Bay Container Terminal, which is operated by Ports America. Half the $24 million cost of the new cranes is coming from state funds. The cranes are seen as key to Port Tampa Bay’s ability to serve Central Florida’s Interstate 4 corridor area, home to about 8 million people and destination for more than 60 million tourists a year. All told, Florida, with almost 20 million residents, has passed New York as the nation’s third-most-populous state, trailing only California and Texas. Port Tampa Bay has recently enhanced its connectivity, with a direct expressway link to the Interstate highway system and on-dock intermodal rail capabilities. Port Panama City On the Florida Panhandle, Port Panama City in late 2014 added an all-electric Model 6 Gottwald mobile harbor crane – its third and largest mobile unit – and looks to further augment infrastructure this year. Bid awards are soon to be made for construction of racks to support some 220 positions for refrigerated containers and for building of a bulk transfer facility at the port’s intermodal distribution center, where a 100,000-square-foot warehouse expansion is to get under way this summer. Linea Peninsular, which sails twice weekly between Panama City and Progreso, Mexico, has recently upgraded its fleet with three ships each with capacities of 400 twenty-foot-equivalent container units supplanting four 150-TEU-capacity vessels. Primary tenant Berg Steel has announced big orders that should bring more than 500,000 tons of imported steel plate through Port Panama City over an 18-month period, while global wood pellet leader Enviva Partners has acquired Green Circle Bio Fuels, which has a significant operation at the port. Port of Pensacola The Port of Pensacola, at the western end of the Florida Panhandle, continues to grow its business in the offshore oil and gas vessel services sector, which accounted for 311 of the port’s 402 ship dockage revenue days in 2014. Among the latest such facilities is a deepwater subsea base under a 30-year lease with Mobile, Ala.-based Offshore Inland Marine & Oilfield Services Inc. As the Port of Pensacola further diversifies from its traditional roots in handling lumber and other local products, the port recently secured a $1.3 million Federal Lands Access Program grant to facilitate construction of a passenger ferry landing adjacent to its commercial docks. Under a cooperative multijurisdictional initiative, the service, slated to be in place in 2017, is to link downtown Pensacola with Pensacola Beach and Fort Pickens in the Gulf Island National Seashore.