“Today’s investment in SeaPort Manatee will grow Florida’s export potential and increase manufacturing in our great state,” DeSantis said. (SeaPort Manatee)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded $2 million to a SeaPort Manatee project to increase heavy truck capacity amid booming cargo shipments passing through a gate along U.S. Route 41 that opened to commercial vehicles in 2023.
“As Florida continues to attract more domestic and international business, it is critical that we bolster Florida’s ports for greater operations,” DeSantis noted March 14. “Today’s investment in SeaPort Manatee will grow Florida’s export potential and increase manufacturing in our great state.”
The grant is from the state Commerce Department’s Florida Job Growth Grant Fund. The revenue will pay to revamp infrastructure to better handle heavy trucks passing through South Dock Street in Palmetto that links SeaPort Manatee’s recently expanded South Gate complex with U.S. 41.
Since opening to commercial truck traffic in September 2023, the South Gate has experienced a surge in operational activity, the port said. When combined with the primary North Gate complex, the port can now accommodate more than 1 million truck transits per year, averaging approximately two vehicles moving through the facility every minute.
The project will involve rebuilding and repaving key roads and making improvements in stormwater mitigation to make the port more resilient, promote commerce and continue regional economic recovery from last year’s hurricanes.
“Seaports are the backbone of Florida’s supply chain and with the growth at SeaPort Manatee, infrastructure investments are critically needed,” said Jared Perdue, state transportation department secretary. “I’m grateful for Governor DeSantis and Florida Commerce for this Florida Job Growth Grant Fund that will allow even more goods to reach communities across the state.”
The grant expenditures are expected to create 300 jobs to meet existing and future business needs. Port officials project “these upgrades will help attract new businesses over the next five years, including a cold storage warehouse, a fuel terminal and a manufacturing facility.”
Located on Florida’s southwestern side, SeaPort Manatee is the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the expanded Panama Canal. The port, which has 10 deep-draft berths, handles such freight as containers, liquid and dry bulk, break-bulk, heavy-lift and general cargo.
“Rapidly increasing truck transits parallel the dynamic growth of cargo activity at SeaPort Manatee,” according to the port. “Containerized cargo volume flowing through the port has tripled since 2019.” It handled 11.8 million tons of cargo, including just under 169,000 containers, in the last fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
DeSantis announced the grant during an event at the site of a recently opened 50,000-square-foot warehouse of Agunsa Manatee Terminal operated by Agunsa Global Solutions. The terminal is handling bulk and break-bulk cargo. In January it handled a vessel from Chile that transported 37,500 metric tons of salt for a U.S. customer.
