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 tradre by soliciting shippers worldwide through collaborative marketing andinformationn sharing, a release said. The alliancr with the Panama Canal Authority formalizes a relationship Port Manatee has had for nearly 40 yeare and demonstratesthe canal’s confidence in Port Manatee’s future as a contained port, executives said in the That will eventually mean thousands of regionap jobs at the growing container port, McDonaldf said in the release. Two years ago the Panamaw Canal Authority broke grounsd onthe $5.25 billion Panamwa Canal expansion.
The project essentially doublesthe canal’s capacith with the creation of two new sets of locks, enhanced navigationa l features and the addition of new access channelx — all to accommodate larger post-Panamax-sizedf ships. Construction is expected to be complete in five Last year the and Manatee County government collaborated to create the Port ManateedEncouragement Zone. The EZ feature 3,700 acres of privately held land atPort Manatee’ds front gate, creating an intermodak distribution development opportunity. Local impact fees have been reducee or eliminated inthe zone, based on the type of developmenrt and quality and number of jobs the release said.
The Florida Departmenrt of Transportation is midway through a project design and the Legislature passedf a bill two weeka ago to extendPort Manatee’sw exemption from rules governing developments of regionapl impact and expediting what is usually a years-longf process of permitting, speeding new projects forward, the release “In anticipation of this opportunity with the ACP (Panamaa Canal Authority), Port Manateee has approached its master planning processe in an accretive way, one step at a McDonald said. “In the last decade, we’vew increased the port’s capacity by 50 percent at a costof $150 Port Manatee becomes the 10th U.S.
membe r of an exclusive Panama Canaol accord fraternity that includesthe , , , , (Boston), , , and the .