Port Manatee rebrands after record year

PALMETTO — A local port is embracing a new identity after a record year of growth. 

What was once known as Port Manatee will further be recognized as SeaPort Manatee, a decision that was announced at last month’s meeting. 

“Over the course of more than half a century, Manatee County’s seaport has enjoyed vibrant growth and vast diversification, proficiently moving record cargo volumes while significantly enhancing infrastructure,” says Reggie Bellamy, chair of the Manatee County Port Authority.

The new logo also was unveiled during the meeting. The rebranding comes after a record fiscal year that concluded last September. 

“As SeaPort Manatee looks to the coming 50 years and beyond,” Bellamy says, “we enthusiastically embrace this freshly distinctive identity, befitting the unique nature of our seaport and our business-oriented commitment to connecting worldwide markets with the burgeoning consumer and industrial bases of Southwest and Central Florida.”

Throughout the fiscal year, SeaPort Manatee recorded an uptick of 53.3% in 20-foot-equivalent units of containerized cargo. The port also saw a record total cargo tonnage of 10.45 million.

The port’s $13.1 million dockside container yard project is coming to a close with construction nearing completion. The project will more than double the container yard to 23.5 acres.  

“When the first cargo shipments began moving through Port Manatee in 1970, few could have imagined the fledgling facility would mature into our region’s preferred global gateway, here at the right turn on Tampa Bay,” says Carlos Buqueras, executive director, in a news release. “As we together move ahead with the ‘supersizing’ of the seaport, we remain laser-focused on continuing to provide the highly personalized attention to service that has long been the ‘special sauce’ in facilitating the synergistic success of the port and its stakeholders.”