Seaports along the Gulf Coast of Florida are teeming with diverse activities, from handling a wide range of containerized and outside-the-box cargos, to homeporting cruise ships, to hosting shipbuilding operations and offshore sailing team training and even pickleball.

Users of Florida seaports benefit from direct proximity to the dynamic consumer market of the nation’s third-most-populous state, which includes 23.4 million residents and which received 143 million visitors in 2024.

SeaPort Manatee’s two newest mobile harbor cranes lift containers filled with imports from Mexico from a World Direct Shipping vessel.

Starting where the Gulf of Mexico meets Tampa Bay and heading north and then westward, here’s a rundown of the latest at Sunshine State seaports along the Gulf of America:

SeaPort Manatee

The closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the Panama Canal, the Manatee County Port Authority’s SeaPort Manatee, located near the Gulf entrance to Tampa Bay, recently added more lift capabilities to help handle record levels of diverse cargo activity. Two new eco-efficient Konecranes Gottwald Generation 6 mobile harbor cranes entered service in December, bringing to a total of seven the number of Gottwald units in use at the port. Vessels being worked with the new cranes include those of SeaPort Manatee-headquartered World Direct Shipping, providing the fastest short-sea link between Mexico and the U.S. Southeast since 2014.

Last fall, SeaPort Manatee impressively rebounded from destruction wrought by Hurricane Milton, resuming critical fuel distribution activities within 72 hours of the storm’s Oct. 9 landfall, while swiftly advancing repairs to port infrastructure with a boost from state emergency funding.

In March, Agunsa Manatee Terminal, a unit of Miami-based maritime logistics leader AGS, augmented its SeaPort Manatee presence with opening of a 50,000-square-foot warehouse for storage of imported bulk products – the latest infrastructure addition at the gateway for burgeoning Southwest and Central Florida markets.

Containership Seaspan Lima makes the March inaugural call of Maersk’s new weekly America Shuttle 2 service at Port Tampa Bay.

Port Tampa Bay

Already enjoying double-digit containerized cargo activity growth, Port Tampa Bay, also a prominent cruise homeport, has bolstered its connectivity with South America and the Caribbean by way of March addition of Mærsk’s America Shuttle 2 service, with vessels arriving weekly from Cartagena, Colombia, and linking to the East-West Network of Mærsk and Gemini Cooperation partner Hapag-Lloyd.

Officials point to advantages of using Port Tampa Bay’s container terminal due to its closeness to the booming distribution center corridor that offers more than 550 million sq ft of space along Interstate 4 between Tampa Bay and Orlando. This proximity allows drayage trucks to make multiple roundtrips a day.

Together with container terminal operator Ports America, Port Tampa Bay is making significant investments to expand capacity, having recently added three more ship-to-shore gantries, bringing its total of such cranes to five, with plans to acquire two more. An enhanced gate complex recently opened, and paved storage is being expanded, to bring the box terminal’s footprint to 100 acres. Construction is to begin soon on a third deepwater berth and a new on-dock rail-served transload warehouse.

Activities of Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc. are bringing life to the Port of Port St. Joe, along the Florida Panhandle.

Port of Port St. Joe

Along the Florida Panhandle, the Port of Port St. Joe, which has struggled since closure of the St. Joe Co. paper mill in the late 1990s, is seeing new life thanks to the growing presence of Panama City, Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc.

The company is using the Port of Port St. Joe bulkhead to put finishing touches on vessels being constructed 40 miles away at its Panama City yards and also is running sea trials out of Port St. Joe. The activity, which has resulted in delivery of new Staten Island Ferry boats and other vessels, brings as many as 300 employees and subcontractor workers to the site each day.

Meanwhile, the Port St. Joe Port Authority is working with the Gulf County Board of County Commissioners to secure funding to build a floating drydock to lease to Eastern Shipbuilding for vessel maintenance purposes, as well as in efforts to establish a maritime academy on port property for training of workers toiling on the drydock installation.

Port Panama City handles a diverse mix of containerized and outside-the-box cargos at its facilities on Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Port Panama City

Northwest Florida’s Port Panama City, located near the center of the Florida Panhandle, is anticipating continued growth in activity handling a diverse mix of containerized, breakbulk and bulk cargos, from exports of biomass wood pellets and other forest products to imports of lumber and steel.

To support efficient handling of greater cargo volumes, the Panama City Port Authority is moving ahead with a $60 million investment in second-phase expansion of its East Terminal. The project, for which a 2028 ribbon-cutting is planned, includes construction of a second berth, erection of an additional 200,000-square-foot warehouse and extension of the turning basin. An $11.25 million U.S. Department of Transportation Port Infrastructure Development Program competitive grant, secured in late 2023, is supporting the latest warehouse undertaking.

Augmenting the 138-acre, six-berth West Terminal that dates back to 1945, the $66 million first phase of the East Terminal commenced operations in 2020 on 43 acres acquired from WestRock in 2016. The East Terminal’s initial phase includes one 36-foot-draft berth and a 260,000-square-foot on-dock warehouse for forest products, plus 200,000 square feet of paved laydown area.

Super sacks of cement are offloaded at the Port of Pensacola, located at the northwest tip of the Florida Panhandle.

Port of Pensacola

At the northwest tip of Florida’s Panhandle, the Port of Pensacola is expanding operations while increasing cargo volumes, focusing upon such key commodities as GE Wind Energy components and bulk cement. The port’s long-term partners include cement importer Cemex and Pate Stevedore Co. Inc. The multifaceted port also hosts Offshore Inland Marine & Oilfield Services Inc., strengthening its role in the vessel servicing sector, and provides a training hub for the New York Yacht Club American Magic sailing team.

By yearend, a $15 million Maritime Center of Excellence is set to launch, transforming Warehouse No. 10 into a 64,000-square-foot facility dedicated to maritime workforce development. And another port warehouse is slated to open this summer as an indoor facility for pickleball and other sports while offering conference, exhibition and concert space.

In April, Lance Scott, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, came aboard as port director at the Port of Pensacola, which is an enterprise operation of the City of Pensacola. Scott is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and earned a master’s from the Naval War College.