| 1950s |
Community leaders looked south from the Piney Point ferry landing in the early 1950s and envisioned a thriving seaport to promote trade and commerce, provide a steady tax base for the community and create new jobs in Manatee County. |
| 1965 |
Manatee County purchased 357 acres near Piney Point for $900 an acre to launch the Barge Port and Industrial Port, later renamed Port Manatee.
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| 1965 |
Florida Legislature passes the Manatee County Port Authority Act, officially creating the port and its oversight board. |
| Aug. 7, 1970 |
The M/V Fermland was the first ship to dock at Port Manatee. |
| Oct. 29, 1970 |
Official port dedication ceremony. |
| 1970s |
Port Manatee primarily served the petroleum and phosphate industries. Petroleum tank farms and fertilizer warehouses dotted the landscape where little else existed. |
| 1971 |
Port Manatee hosts the largest ship to ever call on Tampa Bay at the time, the 732-foot Zenkoren Maru No. 5 carrying 12,000 tons of potash. |
| 1980s |
Refined petroleum and phosphates are the port’s major commodities. Scrap metal, waste paper and plywood also play key roles in the port’s development. |
| 1983 |
Eastern Portland Cement Company, owner of four 170-foot silos, begins importing cement at Port Manatee. |
| 1980s |
Berth 11 was built on the south side of the port creating opportunities for new tenants at Port Manatee |
| 1980s |
Berth 12 provided key services for the reconstruction of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. |
| 1989 |
Fresh Del Monte Produce begins operations at the port. The Port Manatee terminal becomes its second largest U.S. facility. |
| 1990 |
Port Manatee awarded Foreign Trade Zone No. 169. |
| 1990s |
Warehouse 6 was built for Del Monte’s facility. |
| 1992 |
David L. McDonald PPM® named port director. |
| 1993-2003 |
Regal Cruises sailed from the cruise terminal at Berth 9. |
| 2001 |
Construction began on the Gulfstream Natural Gas system pipeline, bringing natural gas through Port Manatee. |
| 2003 |
Manbirtee Key transformed into a bird refuge in partnership with Gulfstream Natural Gas System and Audubon of Florida. |
| 2001 |
Internationally recognized seagrass transplant project began, resulting in 25 acres of new seagrass meadows in Tampa Bay. |
| 2007 |
The 174,000 square-foot Warehouse 11, Port Manatee’s largest warehouse completed. |
| 2007 |
Gottwald HMK 6407 Mobile Harbor Container Crane made its first pick, opening the door to a new era of container shipping at Port Manatee. |
| 2009 |
Port Manatee signs strategic alliance with the Panama Canal becoming the 10th U.S. port to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Panama Canal Authority. |
| 2009 |
The Manatee County Port Authority approves the first phase of the port’s $750 million master plan. The plan calls for a dedicated container terminal on the port’s south side adjacent to the expanded 1,584-foot Berth 12, a second mobile harbor container crane, new cold storage facilities, berth upgrades, land acquisitions and permits for a new container terminal on the port’s north side. |
| 2009 |
The Port Manatee Encouragement Zone is established to attract major shippers and to entice the relocation of distribution facilities and support industries to a vast green field area neighboring the port. |
| 2012 |
Carlos Buqueras named Port Manatee executive director. |
| Today |
Port Manatee adds more than $2.3 annually in regional economic impact and supports more than 24,000 jobs. |