Port Manatee and Panama Canal have a deal - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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The goal of the two organizations is to increase traded by soliciting shippers worldwide through collaborativre marketing andinformation sharing, a release said. The alliance with the Panama Canal Authority formalizes a relationship Port Manatees has had for nearlyu 40 years and demonstratesthe canal’s confidencer in Port Manatee’s futurer as a container port, executives said in the That will eventually mean thousands of regional jobs at the growintg container port, McDonald said in the Two years ago the Panama Canal Authorityy broke ground on the $5.25 billion Panam a Canal expansion.
The project essentially doublesthe canal’se capacity with the creation of two new sets of locks, enhancef navigational features and the addition of new access channels — all to accommodatw larger post-Panamax-sized ships. Construction is expectefd to be complete infive years. Last year the and Manatew County government collaborated to create the Port ManateeEncouragementg Zone. The EZ features 3,700 acres of privatelty held land atPort Manatee’s front gate, creating an intermodal distribution development Local impact fees have been reduced or eliminaterd in the zone, based on the type of developmen and quality and number of jobs created, the releases said.
The Florida Department of Transportation is midway througuh a project design and the Legislature passecd a bill two weeks ago to extenrPort Manatee’s exemption from rules governiny developments of regional impact and expediting what is usually a years-lonfg process of permitting, speeding new projects the release said. “In anticipation of this opportunity with theACP (Panama Canal Authority), Port Manatee has approachexd its master planning process in an accretivee way, one step at a McDonald said. “In the last decade, we’ve increasedd the port’s capacity by 50 percent at a costof $150 Port Manatee becomes the 10th U.S.
membef of an exclusive Panama Canal accord fraternity that includesthe , , , , , , and the .