Tampa Port Authority goes with SAA Marine of Seattle to boost its container business.
By STEVE HUETTEL
Published July 16, 2003
TAMPA - The agency that runs Tampa's port picked one of the world's largest cargo terminal operators Tuesday to help turn the port into a player in the growing container shipping trade.
But Tampa Port Authority commissioners put off another decision: selecting the developer for a major mixed-use project next to the Channelside entertainment complex. They want to look into whether the port should lease, rather than sell, at least part of the 3.5-acre site.
Naming SAA Marine of Seattle to spearhead the port's container business was the culmination of months of talks with companies about the best way to attract to Tampa shipping lines that carry cargo in the 20- and 40-foot-long metal boxes.
SSA promoted its relationships with the world's major container shipping lines. The company estimated the port can move 40,000 to 60,000 containers annually for the next five years and eventually has the potential for 240,000 a year. The port handled about 6,000 containers last year.
One of SSA's customers, Zim America Israel Shipping, is looking into starting a feeder route between Tampa and its big international hub in Kingston, Jamaica.
"Our experience elsewhere is once that you get that one carrier, it's a follow-the-leader mentality," said Andy McLauchlan, SSA's senior vice president of business development and marketing. "Our approach here will be to find those one or two (initial) lines."
Tampa's port was built on the phosphate mined in Polk and Hillsborough counties. Bulk cargo, mostly outbound phosphate rock and fertilizer and inbound petroleum fuels, still make up about 90 percent of the port's cargo by weight.
Higher-value cargo such as electronics and agricultural products moves in containers. Port officials never invested in huge cranes and other equipment to handle big container ships because they doubted Tampa could compete with Miami, Jacksonville and other container ports.
But local businesses that must pay $400 or $500 to truck a container to and from other ports became increasingly critical that they couldn't ship their goods through Tampa.
Once SSA negotiates and signs a contract with the port authority, the company will spend about $4-million at the terminal now operated by the nonprofit Tampa Bay International Terminals, said McLauchlan. That includes $3-million for a mobile harbor crane.
SSA will give the port 20 percent of revenues from the terminal, with a minimum of $1-million a year.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Pat Frank said the company's estimated container volume was far short of what a local business group predicted the bay area could generate. McLauchlan said SSA couldn't convince CP Ships, headquartered in Tampa, to start a container route to the port and wanted to give conservative estimates."We'd rather be more pessimistic than optimistic," he said.
Later in Tuesday's meeting, commissioners heard from three development groups that wanted to buy the site owned by the port authority at Channelside Drive and Beneficial Boulevard.
They included:
Downtown Channelside Partnership, which wants to build two 30-story condo towers with 250 units and a "City Market" anchored by a Kash n' Karry grocery. The grocery would be an urban design, with four or five levels of parking on top.
Paradise/Fairfield, which plans a 14-story mid rise with 350 luxury apartments, restaurants and a grocery.
A partnership including builder Beck Group and Alliant Partners, which wants to build a high rise with 200 hotel rooms, 200 to 250 condos units, restaurants and high-end retail.
Port staff recommended that commissioners open negotiations with Downtown Channelside, a partnership of Byrd Corp. of Clearwater, Stuart S. Golding Co. of Clearwater and Giunta Retail Properties in Tampa.
Condos are preferable to rental apartments, said port director George Williamson, and the Beck/Alliant group submitted a letter of intent instead of a firm offer to buy the land.
Carlos Alfonso, chief executive of Alfonso Architects and an Alliant principal, said his group got into the competition late because the port didn't advertise the property for sale. He asked for 30 days to flesh out the proposal.
Frank told other commissioners the port should hold onto at least part of the property. "I'd prefer some sort of joint venture . . . and lease the property so we could have a stream of money for a long time," she said.
The two other commissioners present agreed to ask that developers come back Aug. 19 and present plans that include an option for the port to own some of the property.
In other businesss, commissioners voted to extend Williamson's employment contract for two years if they can agree within 10 days on a set of goals for him to achieve during that time. His current contract expires in January.
