20 
American Journal of Transportation
American Journal of Transportation  
ajot.com
LEGACY
SERVICE
EXPANSION
850.767.3220
PORTPCFL.COM
POWERING TRADE THROUGH NORTHWEST FLORIDA
Foreign Trade Zone No. 65
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As a growing regional Port, Port Panama City handles a diverse mix  of
containerized, breakbulk, and bulk cargoes. Continued investments in
modern port infrastructure have allowed Port Panama City to handle
growing cargo volumes, while also promoting global trade and
supporting industrial development at the local, state, and regional levels. 
Alabama Port Authority.
Key elements of the project 
include a second East Terminal ware-
house, with rail and road additions 
to serve it, plus a 600-linear-foot 
berth extension to facilitate simulta-
neous accommodation of two ves-
sels. Related navigational channel 
improvements are also proceeding. 
Completion is targeted for late 2028.
The East Terminal, formerly 
known as Bay Harbor Docks, aug-
ments the sixth-berth West Terminal, 
with each facility offering along-
side depth of 36 feet. In 2016, the 
cargo operations with high-profile 
waterfront development. Lance Scott, 
a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, took 
over as port director in April 2025, 
succeeding Clark Merritt, who entered 
private industry as president of Spe-
cialty Ceilings LLC after helming the 
port for more than a dozen years.
Core cargo activity remains strong 
at the Port of Pensacola, led by bulk 
Cemex cement imports and such proj-
ect cargo as wind turbine components 
for GE Vernova, which anchors the 
port’s position in regional construc-
tion and energy supply chains. Further 
indicative of diversity of activities, 
The Port of Pensacola, a city enterprise, serves as a diverse maritime hub 
at the northwest tip of Florida’s Panhandle.
(VAST – continued from page 19)
Port of Morgan City
At the confluence of the Atch-
afalaya River and Gulf Intracoastal 
Waterway, just 20 miles from the 
Gulf of America, the Morgan City 
Harbor and Terminal District’s Port of 
Morgan City has received construc-
tion bids for its $28 million West Dock 
expansion, which bodes to extend 
waterfront access to 1,900 linear feet, 
with about 35 acres to be available for 
operations and storage. In December, 
the port bolstered its lift capabilities 
with delivery of a 275-ton-capacity 
Manitowoc crane.
In close coordination with the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, including 
through use of a special-built dredger 
to manage low-density sediment 
known as “fluff,” the port is working 
to ensure the Atchafalaya River and 
related bayou channels are maintained 
at federally authorized 20-foot depth. 
Channel maintenance is crucial 
to the port’s movement of high-value 
project cargos, produced at industrial 
facilities in the terminal district, for 
aerospace, energy support, national 
defense and other government contract 
undertakings. Performance Contractors 
Inc.’s Morgan City module yard has 
assembled 14 process modules barged 
to Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG 
export facility in Plaquemines Parish, 
with more modules in process.
Port of Lake Charles 
More than $170 million in proj-
ects are advancing toward anticipated 
The Port of Morgan City takes delivery in December of a 275-ton-capacity Manitowoc crane, 
thus enhancing the port’s lift capabilities.
At the Port of Lake Charles’ City Docks, three vessels discharge shipments of dry cement, 
alumina trihydrate and concrete pilings. 
Panama City Port Authority bought 
from WestRock the 43-acre eastern 
property, which had been home to a 
paper mill and private terminal, and 
has been using federal, state and port 
revenue funds to advance its phased 
redevelopment. The $66 million first 
phase opened in 2020.
Port of Pensacola 
Located at the northwest edge 
of the Florida Panhandle, the Port of 
Pensacola continues to evolve as a 
diversified maritime hub, balancing 
in January, the port, an enterprise 
operation of the City of Pensacola, 
completed a 56,000-square-foot per-
formance center as a training base for 
elite sailing programs.
Infrastructure investments under-
way at the Port of Pensacola include 
a comprehensive road, rail, water line 
and stormwater management proj-
ect to enhance terminal efficiency. 
Future-facing projects, such as Berth 6 
rehabilitation and an intermodal logis-
tics center, bode to further expand 
cargo capacity and throughput.
(HANDLE – continued on page 22)
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