“Despite the challenges of a global pandemic, Port Tampa Bay continued to serve our region and community. We saw record containerized cargo growth, continued to expand and modernize our container cargo terminals and facilities, remained steadfast in our environmental sustainability efforts, and established ourselves as Florida’s most efficient supply chain solution,” explained Paul Anderson, Port Tampa Bay President and CEO.
Anyone interested in viewing the 2020 State of the Port can watch the address in its entirety here. Additionally, the pre-recorded video is available on Port Tampa Bay’s website.
Here are highlights from the 2020 State of the Port address:
- The port experienced a surge in containerized cargo service, which increased more than 40 percent.
- New partnerships who share in our focus on sustainability, including Celadon, who uses wastewater to receive and process mixed paper, corrugated cardboard and plastic products sourced in Florida to produce recycled paper fiber sheets for export to Asia.
- Our commitment to the environment remained strong. The port, along with partners and volunteers, removed nearly 20K pounds of trash during the first-ever Great Port Clean-up. Additionally, we released 500 juvenile redfish into the Bay during our annual BaySlam Catch-and-Release Fishing Tournament.
- Port Tampa Bay’s real estate portfolio totaled more than a dozen lease renewals, extensions and land transactions.
Port Tampa Bay continues to affect more than 85,000 jobs, brings in 43% of the state’s petroleum, and serves a region that includes more than 300 distribution warehouses along the I-4 corridor, while functioning as Central Florida’s largest economic engine contributing more than $18 billion in economic impact.