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Florida's largest cargo tonnage port, Tampa, intends to quadruple the size of its container terminal over the next few years, in a project which is also set to lead to a significant rise in bunker sales volumes.

Earlier this year the Tampa Port Authority(TPA) completed the most recent phase in the ongoing expansion of its container terminal from 25 to 40 acres. The terminal now includes 2100 feet of berth length, three rail-mounted container gantry cranes and a 100 ton mobile harbor crane, with 43-foot water depth.

The latest phase of expansion will be complete next month, to include extending the container gantry crane rails and lengthening the berth to 2800 feet.

Together with terminal operator Ports America, TPA has plans to quadruple the size of the terminal to over 160 acres over the next several years. This planned build-out will be on adjacent land owned by TPA and ready to be developed as business continues to grow. A primary driver is to position the port for increased trade with Latin America, as well as Asia, resulting from the expansion of the Panama Canal currently underway.

At the core of the port’s container initiative is the Executive Shippers’ Council, an association of more than 150 key exporting and importing firms in the Central Florida region that are eager to support container shipping lines that choose to call Tampa direct, saving significantly on inland trucking costs by avoiding more distant ports. Over the last few years, the Tampa/Central Florida region has emerged as an important distribution center gateway, and with 8 million people, is one of the largest markets in the Southeastern U.S. The combined Tampa-Orlando I-4 corridor region is the tenth-largest economy in the country, with a GDP of over $272 billion.

Last week Zim American Integrated Shipping announced that it is expanding its South America Express (SAX) service, to Tampa and the US Gulf.

"We are delighted to now have direct connections to Brazil and Venezuela which will provide for more competitive service and transit times for Central Florida exporters and importers in serving these markets,” said Tampa Port Director Richard Wainio. “This announcement by Zim also dovetails with the ongoing expansion of our container terminal facilities.”

The expanded SAX service incorporates the current Zim service between the US Gulf and Kingston, Jamaica, Zim’s hub for the Americas, with transshipment to its global network, including markets in Asia, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

The weekly fixed day service will be provided with seven vessels on the following rotation: Kingston – Tampa – Mobile – Houston – Kingston – Victoria – Rio Grande – Itajai – Santos – Pecem (Bi-weekly) - La Guaira – Puerto Cabello – Kingston.

“Since launching service to Tampa in 2003, Zim has been a great partner and we look forward to working with them to continue expand their business in this market,” added Wainio.