b'FEBRUARY 22 - MARCH 7, 2021FLORIDA PORTS 9Twin Rivers Land and Timber is preparing to export wood chips from the Florida Panhandles Port of Port St. Joe.(ARRAYcontinued from page 2) portstotalsuchstoragecapability Withthehelpofa$19.8mil- up to 50,000 tons. The port, which is lion U.S. Department of Transporta- seeingretirementofWayneStubbs tion grant, Port Tampa Bay, Floridasfromtheexecutivedirectorrolehe longtimebusiestportintermsofhas held for 20 years, has also begun total cargo tonnage, is continuing tothedesignworkfora$4.5million expand terminal capacity, with effortsexpansionofitsoff-portintermodal underwaytoaddmorecranesanddistribution facility.othercontainer-handlingequipment,P ort ofP ensacolagreaterpavedstoragearea,anew gatecomplexandfurthertransloadWhenitcomestodiversityof warehousing, all with an eye towardactivities, few ports outdo Northwest enhancingsupplychainefficienciesFloridas Port of Pensacola. The city-for Florida importers and exporters. owned portfeatured last fall in anContainerized cargo activity is rising to record levels at Manatee Countys Port Manatee, (ARRAYcontinued on page 12) located near the entrance to Tampa Bay.P ort ofP orts t . J oeWoody material left behind from whenHurricaneMichaelstruckthe FloridaPanhandlebackinOctober 2018 is providing fodder for an opera-tion officials of the Port St. Joe Port Authorityarehopingwillfurnish anopportunityforalong-awaited reboundformaritimefacilitiesthat have languished since the late 1990s, when St. Joe Paper Co. closed its sig-nature paper mill and box plant.Authorityofficialsannouncedin January that an agreement has been reachedwithPerry,Georgia-based TwinRiversLandandTimberto beginexportingwoodybiomass fromthePortofPortSt.Joe,with shipments to Honduras beginning as early as March. The wood chip mate-rial is to be used in generating elec-tricalpowerformultipleHonduran textile plants.Not only does the operation bode to revive the port, bringing 10 on-port jobsplusemployingmorethan100 in timber-related work inland, but it alsoshouldmakeproductiveuseof much of the unsightly nonmerchant-able timber still left behind in the hur-ricane-devastatedGulfCountyarea whilehelpingmitigatesomeofthe high cleanup costs local landowners continue to face. P ortP anaMac ityAbittothewest,PortPanama CityandtheU.S.ArmyCorpsof EngineershavecompletedtheEast Channeldeepeningproject,provid-ing36-foot-deepchannelaccessfor the Panhandle ports new forest prod-ucts facility at its East Terminal. The facilityhandlesG2Oceanpulpand paperexportstotheMediterranean, North Europe, and Asia. The port also receives imported lumber from North Europe, carried by Ultrabulk.AtitslongstandingWestTer-minal,PortPanamaCityisexpe-riencingsolidgrowthincontainer trade with Mexico and has ordered a newmobileharborcranefordeliv-ery in April. Under construction is a 70,000-square-footcontainerfreight station, to feature 10 truck bays and be supported by rail.Announcementofastartdate isimminentforconstructionofa 20,000-ton-capacity wood pellet stor-agedome,whichaimstobringthe'