Tampa Bay’s ports are hoping to benefit from the additional cargo that will be transported through the Panama Canal once the expansion is complete.

At 5,000 acres, Port Tampa Bay is Florida’s largest port. It handles nearly 40 percent of all the cargo that moves in and out of the state.

“I would say the ratio is about 80 percent bulk and 20 percent on the container side,” said Port Tampa Bay’s CEO Paul Anderson.

Petroleum products are the biggest commodity handled at Port Tampa Bay. Officials say some 16 million tons of oil, gas and jet fuel move through the port in a typical year. But when it comes to the Panama Canal, container cargo - not bulk - is where the money is at.

“We currently handle about 60,000 containers a year," Anderson said. "We hope to increase that, over the next 5 years, to a quarter of a million and then grow from there."

Anderson said that increase will be driven by the Panama Canal expansion. He says bigger ships through the canal will translate into more consumer goods reaching Port Tampa Bay. It also means increased trade with Asia and Latin America.

“Our job as a state is to capture that cargo for Florida consumption, not let other states handle the cargo,” Anderson said.

Port Tampa Bay will be competing with Port Manatee for that business. While neither has channels deep enough to accommodate the giant post-expansion ships, both anticipate a lot more shipping traffic.

“That additional cargo is expected to be transshipped - in other words, go to Caribbean ports and move that cargo into smaller ships so they can address more different ports and locations," said Port Manatee’s Deputy Executive Director Dave Sanford. "We expect to be the recipient of some of that additional traffic."

Both ports are getting ready for the Panama Canal expansion. Sanford said Port Manatee is considering a channel deepening project to handle increased ship traffic. The port is also rehabbing its berths.

Port Tampa Bay CEO Paul Anderson says they’ve invested $24 million in new equipment.

“We've ordered two new 'post-Panamax' gantry cranes which will complement our existing cranes allowing us to unload and load larger ships,” he said.

Anderson says Port Tampa Bay’s other infrastructure investments include a dedicated truck ramp on the I-4 Crosstown Connector leading from the port to the interstate, on-dock rail and plans to quadruple the size of the port’s container terminal.

“It’s an exciting future ahead for the Port Tampa Bay area,” Anderson said.

He estimates the economic impact of the Panama Canal expansion on Port Tampa Bay over a decade will be in the billions of dollars.