By Paul Scott Abbott, AJOTWith completion of Panama Canal expansion remaining on target for 2014, most of the ports along the Gulf Coast of Florida are busily gearing up to handle projected increases in containerized cargo activity. Officials of these ports are quick to point out, though, that their efforts related to bringing in more boxes are not detracting from their continuing to serve noncontainerized cargo business. Looking on a one-by-one basis at Florida Gulf ports, starting at Tampa Bay and moving to the northwest along the Florida Panhandle: Port Manatee Port Manatee, near the entrance to Tampa Bay, is being promoted as the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the Panama Canal, and the port’s leadership is seeking to take advantage of this propitious location with both infrastructure and marketing initiatives. The port’s Berth 12 project is moving forward ahead of schedule, with deepening of the 400-foot-wide channel to a 41-foot controlled depth set for completion by October, when a 584-foot extension of the present 1,000-foot-long container berth is slated to go to bid. A $9 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery II grant is being matched with state funding to facilitate the container-handling installation, including a 32-acre container yard. In May, Port Manatee – which has beefed up its marketing staff – inked a five-year extension of its memorandum of understanding with the Panama Canal Authority. Developments are continuing on the bulk and breakbulk fronts as well, including completion of Martin Marietta Materials Inc.’s nearly mile-long conveyor at its 20-acre aggregate yard. Also at Port Manatee, David L. McDonald, the port’s executive director for the past 19 years, has announced plans to retire effective in February, and a consulting firm has been brought aboard to assist in finding his successor. Port of Tampa Expansion of the Port of Tampa’s container terminal is continuing, with the most recent growth phase having extended the rails on which three gantry cranes move and lengthened the containership berth to 2,800 feet from 2,100 feet, following a preceding phase that brought the facility’s paved storage area to 40 acres from 25 acres. In conjunction with operator Ports America, the Tampa Port Authority is looking to eventually increase the terminal’s area to more than 160 acres, in concert with market demand. The launching in late January of Zim American Integrated Shipping Service Co. Inc.’s weekly direct container service linking Tampa and Mexico – along with the late 2010 expansion of Zim’s South America Express service to add direct connections between Tampa and Brazil and Venezuela – is bringing the Tampa box terminal increasing activity. Marketing efforts associated with the new Mexico service have included a May 26 Tampa forum on doing business with Mexico, hosted by the Tampa Port Authority in association with ProMexico, Mexico’s trade and investment commission. The Port of Tampa’s off-port links also are being enhanced, including through a project that, by 2013, is to provide a dedicated truck ramp and elevated connector between the port and the Interstate highway system. Port of Port St. Joe Officials of the Port St. Joe Port Authority are optimistically advancing plans for port facilities in Gulf County on the Florida Panhandle. The authority acquired in February the 32-acre site that had housed operations of Arizona Chemical Co. until the plant’s mid-2009 closing. That site, added to 68 acres of canal-front property already in the authority’s fold, brings to 100 acres the available land along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, where a bulkhead offering 12-foot-draft barge berthing has been completed. Discussions are continuing with prospective users of the site. The authority also is pursuing permitting for a deepwater (35-foot depth alongside) site, for which talks are proceeding with a private developer. That 65-acre site, under a 49-year lease fro