Florida’s Gulf Coast seaports bolster ability to accommodate diverse activity

Already bustling with a broad spectrum of activity, seaports of the Gulf Coast of Florida are bolstering cargo-handling infrastructure while looking to further diversify operations.

The Florida Panhandle ports of Pensacola and Panama City are under new executive leadership, while Port Tampa Bay’s Paul Anderson and SeaPort Manatee’s Carlos Buqueras are now in their 14th and 15th years at their respective helms.

Beginning where the Gulf of Mexico meets Tampa Bay and heading north, then westward along the Panhandle, here is a roundup of the very latest at Sunshine State seaports along the Gulf of America, known until January 2025 as the Gulf of Mexico:

SeaPort Manatee

Moving increasing volumes of a broad spectrum of crucial commodities – from tropical fruits and juices to forest products and fuels – the Manatee County Port Authority’s SeaPort Manatee is strategically advancing infrastructure enhancements to solidify its position as a preferred global trade hub for Southwest and Central Florida and beyond.

The port commissioned two more Konecranes Gottwald Generation 6 mobile harbor cranes in early 2025, doubling its fleet of such lift units, and is moving forward with berth and container yard expansions while fortifying intermodal links. Latest additions include Agunsa Manatee Terminal’s 50,000-square-foot warehouse for bulk and breakbulk cargos; a second on-dock hopper for handling imports of road construction aggregate materials; and upgrades to the on-site cement mill.

The 12-month period ended Sept. 30, 2025, saw SeaPort Manatee post record throughput for a fifth consecutive fiscal year, with moves of 11,855,828 tons of cargo – the most in the port’s 55-year history.

Port Tampa Bay

Billed as Florida’s largest and most diversified seaport, Port Tampa Bay handled more than 32 million tons of cargo in fiscal 2025, including record container throughput of nearly 263,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs. Reflecting its expanding role as a Central Florida distribution gateway along the Interstate 4 corridor, the port’s yearly container volumes have quadrupled since 2018.

In partnership with Ports America, Port Tampa Bay is further beefing up its 100-acre container terminal, with an expanded gate complex now in operation, a third deepwater container berth to be ready this spring and its post-Panamax crane contingent slated to grow to six units by the end of 2026.

Port Tampa Bay gets calls from weekly services of numerous container carriers, including the Gemini Cooperation of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd; the OCEAN Alliance of COSCO, Evergreen, OOCL and CMA CGM; Mediterranean Shipping Co.; Zim Lines; Dole Ocean Cargo Express; and Seatrade Group’s SeacatLine.

Port of Port St. Joe

The primary activity at the Port of Port St. Joe, along Florida’s Panhandle, continues to be vessel maintenance, repair and conversion work by Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc., breathing life into a port that has scuffled since St. Joe Co. shuttered its paper mill in 1999.

Gulf County and port authority officials are collaborating to gain funding for construction of a floating drydock for lease to Eastern Shipbuilding – which currently utilizes the port bulkhead – and are looking to establish an on-port maritime training academy with Triumph Gulf Coast funds related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement.

Also, legislation filed Feb. 14 in the Florida House of Representatives (HB 4105) is advancing to expand the Port St. Joe Port Authority, with two Gulf County representatives to be joined by one member each from adjacent Franklin, Liberty and Gadsden counties, through which the rail line that historically served the port passes.

Port Panama City

At Northwest Florida’s Port Panama City, near the center of the Florida Panhandle, Bob Majka was selected at a Feb. 13 special port authority meeting to assume the role of executive director, to succeed Alex King, who, after nearly 15 years in that position, has just become chief operating officer of the Alabama Port Authority.

Majka served for the past year as county manager of Bay County, of which Panama City is county seat. Prior to a 2 1/2-year stint as city manager of Cocoa Beach, Florida, Majka spent two decades with Bay County, including as hazardous materials program manager, emergency management director, chief of emergency services and assistance county manager. He began his career as a Panama City firefighter.

Meanwhile, the port continues to move ahead with a second-phase expansion of its East Terminal, to deliver by 2028 a second berth, a 200,000-square-foot warehouse and an extended turning basin.

Port of Pensacola

The Port of Pensacola, at the Panhandle’s northwest tip, also is under new leadership, with Lance Scott, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, having become director in April 2025. Scott served three decades in the military, followed by two years as a maritime, defense and logistics consultant.

An enterprise operation of the City of Pensacola, the port looks to benefit from a $76 million Triumph Gulf Coast grant initially approved in January. The oil spill settlement money would be used toward establishing a $275 million regional headquarters and advanced shipbuilding facility for Birdon America Inc., creating as many as 2,000 local jobs with a facility capable of producing complex Navy ship and submarine modules and complete 400-foot-long vessels.

The Port of Pensacola’s continuing diverse activities include handling GE Wind Energy components and bulk cement, plus offshore vessel servicing and a New York Yacht Club American Magic sailing team training base.