Port Tampa Bay

Speakers at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club pushed back on the idea that the land the port occupies would be better suited for residential and commercial development.

As Florida's cargo shipping industry continues to recover, a Maryland company is leasing 35 acres from Port Tampa Bay to build a new cargo distribution facility.

Cargo traffic at Florida’s 16 seaports is slightly ahead of pre-pandemic numbers, while the cruise industry is expected to return to pre-pandemic passenger counts this year.

In December, the port will see 29 cruise ships, with each averaging about $350,000 in economic impact. Over the course of the year, the port estimates it will have served 1.2 million cruise passengers.

Port Tampa Bay, PortMiami, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral, and Port of Jacksonville collectively recorded 6.1 million cruise passengers in 2021.

While Florida ports have been working since before the pandemic to attract more cargo routes, experts say this latest push may not provide a quick fix to supply chain bottlenecks.

Gov. Ron DeSantis touted incentive packages offered by state ports to try to entice shipping companies to reroute operations.

House Appropriations Chairman Jay Trumbull also wants them to urge their local representatives to push for infrastructure money so Florida doesn’t “lose out” to ports in Alabama and Georgia.

It's part of a $250 million package Gov. Ron DeSantis announced will go to Florida's ports.

But the recovery is expected to take longer for the multibillion-dollar passenger cruise industry.

The lawsuit focuses heavily on a “conditional sailing order” that the CDC initially issued in October with a phased approach to resuming cruise-ship operations.

Cruise companies are starting to announce that more ships will resume sailing this summer, but that’s not the case yet at Port Tampa Bay.