Port Manatee broke cargo records in FY2018

Port Manatee handled a record 9.3 million tons of cargo in fiscal-year 2018, a 19.1 percent increase from the previous year, port officials announced last week.

The increase for FY2018, which ended Sept. 30, follows a 13.4 percent tonnage rise in FY2017 compared with FY2016 at the Florida port.

In FY2018, dry bulk surged 48.5 percent to a record 1.97 million tons, while liquid bulk tonnage — the port's largest sector — rose 11.4 percent to 6.2 million tons due to gains in throughputs of gasoline and bunker fuels, port officials said in a press release.

Breakbulk activity for the year also hit a highpoint, up 9.8 percent to 602,914 tons, propelled by a 128.8 percent gain in wood pulp and a 50 percent increase in lumber tons over FY2017.

Year over year, containerized cargo tons climbed 6.1 percent to 385,247, while loaded container volume rose 2.4 percent to 30,419 twenty-foot-equivalent units.

"The record activity across all cargo sectors bears testament to the success of the diversified strategy we are implementing at Port Manatee and further adds to the impressive contributions the port makes to our region's prosperity," said Vanessa Baugh, chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority.