TAMPA: The Tampa Port Authority board voted Tuesday to move forward with the second phase of an $18 million project meant to lure back ships carrying fresh food to the port.
Even more than that, port officials say, the addition of a rail spur from Port Tampa Bay’s container terminal to the CSX Rail connection and to trucks will eventually make for a much more efficient system for moving all kinds of goods to market. The ultimate goal is to draw in more ships and more exporters to use the Tampa port.
The board also voted Tuesday to sign an agreement with Tampa Electric Co. so that businesses moving to Port Redwing could use the utility company’s railroad spur to move goods to CSX trains.
The container project will provide the newest and best way to get goods from this country to ports of call to the south and to bring in fresh food and get it shipped by rail or truck to the southeast and the Midwest, said Raul Alfonso, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for the port.
Eventually, this project will include a new refrigerated warehouse to hold goods until they are shipped out to various destinations across the country.
The work getting under way includes site work on 19 acres, building 17,500 linear feet of railroad to connect with CSX and relocating a road.The project is funded by Port Tampa Bay with a matching grant from the Florida Department of Transportation.
Food coming into Port Tampa Bay was once a lucrative part of the business there. The port even had its own banana docks. But the last major importer of bananas weighed anchor and moved its operations to Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1997.
Combine the new rail loop with expansion of the Panama Canal and two new gantry cranes coming to the port to off-load containers and it could mean a lot more business for the port, Alfonso said.
“This project is not just about fruit,” he said. “It is part of our container strategy to attract new business for the port. It will provide better solutions for importers and exporters.” Eventually, he said, the port hopes to have the capability to move containers from a ship right on to rail cars, but that is something that will come as the port builds up more client ships bringing goods into Tampa.
“It’s all a matter of time,” Alfonso said. “Our target is we want it all to be operational by early to late 2016.”
