advertisement

---

Last week, the Manatee County Port Authority approved a $13 million contract with American Bridge Co. to complete a 584-foot extension of Berth 12 and a 10-acre container yard at the Palmetto, Fla., port. The work calls for finishing a project that originated in 1997, when the port purchased 412 acres of land for the expansion.

To be completed by mid-2013, the project will extend Berth 12 to 1,584 feet long and enable the port to handle Panamax-sized ships after the Panama Canal expansion is finished by 2015, port officials said in a prepared statement. The port is served by CSX Transportation and situated near three interstates. CH2M Hill will provide construction-phase engineering services for the project.

“Years of planning and execution will result in hundreds of new construction jobs and hundreds more of full-time on-port employment opportunities related to the container business,” said Port Manatee Executive Director Carlos Buqueras.