History

Community leaders looked south from the Piney Point ferry landing in the early 1950s and envisioned a thriving seaport to promote trade and commerce, provide a steady tax base for the community and create new jobs in Manatee County.

Manatee County purchased 357 acres near Piney Point for $900 an acre to launch the Barge Port and Industrial Port, later renamed Port Manatee.

Florida Legislature passes the Manatee County Port Authority Act, officially creating the port and its oversight board.

Port Manatee primarily served the petroleum and phosphate industries. Petroleum tank farms and fertilizer warehouses dotted the landscape where little else existed.

Port Manatee hosts the largest ship to ever call on Tampa Bay at the time, the 732-foot Zenkoren Maru No. 5 carrying 12,000 tons of potash.

Berth 12 provided key services for the reconstruction of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Eastern Portland Cement Company, owner of four 170-foot silos, begins importing cement at Port Manatee.

Fresh Del Monte Produce begins operations at the port. The Port Manatee terminal becomes its third largest U.S. facility.

Port Manatee awarded Foreign Trade Zone No. 169.

David L. McDonald PPM® named port director.

Construction began on the Gulfstream Natural Gas system pipeline, bringing natural gas through Port Manatee.

The Manatee County Port Authority approves the first phase of the port’s $750 million master plan. The plan calls for a dedicated container terminal on the port’s south side adjacent to the expanded 1,584-foot Berth 12, a second mobile harbor container crane, new cold storage facilities, berth upgrades, land acquisitions and permits for a new container terminal on the port’s north side.

The Port Manatee Encouragement Zone is established to attract major shippers and to entice the relocation of distribution facilities and support industries to a vast green field area neighboring the port.

Carlos Buqueras named Port Manatee executive director.

Port Manatee finished construction of the initial 10 acres of the first phase of the South Port Intermodal Terminal, a planned 52-acre containerized cargo and vehicle-handling facility. Also completed is the development of the 40-foot-draft Berth 14, which, combined with the adjacent Berth 12, provides 1600 feet of contiguous berthing area.