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Port of Tampa marks its best year for cargo

And next year will be even better, says director Richard Wainio - although net income is forecast to dip.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published August 25, 2006

The region's growing hunger for construction materials and fuel should help the Tampa Port Authority close a banner year next month.

When the agency's fiscal year ends Sept. 30, a record 17.1-million tons of cargo will have moved across publicly owned docks, a 4.3 percent increase over the previous year.

The authority also expects that more than 450,000 passengers will have taken cruises from the port during the year, another record. That's an increase of 67,000 passengers, or 17 percent, from fiscal 2005.

Port director Richard Wainio called 2006 "a watershed year" marked by significant growth across the agency's various business lines, including bulk and general cargo, cruise ships and land rentals.

The outlook for next year calls for more cargo growth, he told port commissioners at a budget workshop Thursday.

But the agency's net income will drop slightly to $29.5-million in 2007. That's because a big Royal Caribbean cruise ship is returning to New Orleans for the winter and the cost of port security and insurance are rising sharply.

Tampa's port, Florida's largest by tonnage, includes public land leased to tenants and privately owned facilities.

Overall port cargo volume for the year ending Sept. 30 is expected to be slightly less than last year's 50-million tons because of declining shipments of phosphate and related materials.

Bulk cargo, predominantly phosphate and petroleum products, make up more than 90 percent of tonnage moving across the docks.

But port authority officials anticipate that general cargo - mostly steel, scrap metals, lumber, vehicles and various goods shipped in containers - will grow at a faster pace than bulk.

A new container shipping line that carries the 20- and 40-foot steel boxes directly between China and Tampa is "arguably one of the most significant commercial developments in port history," Wainio said.

The equivalent of 27,000 20-foot containers are expected to have moved through the port during the current fiscal year. That should jump to 50,000 next year and 100,000 by 2009, port officials said.

Cruise passengers, however, will drop 13 percent next year. The port authority received a windfall when the cruise ship Grandeur of the Seas relocated after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Without the vessel, the port expects just fewer than 400,000 cruise passengers next year.

The port's annual security costs will go up $838,000, or 16 percent, to $6-million, and property insurance will jump by $652,000, a whopping 53 percent increase.

Port commissioners questioned raises proposed for port authority employees. The $145.4-million budget includes automatic 3.5-percent "market equity adjustment" raises for workers, plus possible merit raises ranging from 1 to 3 percent.

Annual raises among businesses average about 3 percent, said county Commissioner Ronda Storms. "At no time should a (public) employee get a greater raise than in the private sector," she said.

The port authority is proposing to cut the property tax rate for Hillsborough County residents next year from 26 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to 22 cents. The tax is used for capital improvements and would represent about 21 percent of port revenues.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified August 25, 2006, 08:53:24]