State Sen. Nick DiCeglie got a firsthand look at Port Tampa Bay's expansion on Thursday, Sept. 17, touring the facility with President and CEO Paul Anderson and other port executives.

DiCeglie, a Pinellas County Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development, viewed two new ship-to-shore cranes being commissioned and the expanded container terminal, according to a letter from Anderson. The group discussed the Tampa Harbor Navigation Improvement Project, a $1.3 billion channel deepening effort that would be the largest infrastructure project in port history.

That project, authorized by Congress in late 2024, would deepen the main shipping channel from 43 feet to 47 feet along roughly 42 miles and extend the entrance channel by 1.9 miles. Construction could begin as early as 2027.

DiCeglie's visit follows a string of high-profile tours. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited the port on Aug. 17. During that trip, the Maritime Administration awarded a $1 million Small Shipyard Grant to Gulf Marine Repair Corp. in Tampa. In April, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor announced $10 million in federal funding for the channel project, including $3 million she secured through fiscal year 2026 community project funding for Phase 1 planning and design, plus $7 million through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The two post-Panamax gantry cranes DiCeglie saw were manufactured by Liebherr in Ireland and arrived in April. Each has a 197-foot outreach and a 145,600-pound twin-lift capacity. Both are expected to be operational by the end of 2026, bringing the port's fleet to six post-Panamax gantry cranes.

"These cranes are a key part of our Vision 2030 strategy as we continue expanding Port Tampa Bay's role in supporting the I-4 corridor and the broader West Central Florida region," Anderson said in April when the cranes arrived.

The port is expanding its container terminal to 100 acres with a third deep-water berth and an on-dock, rail-served transload facility. The expansion would bring eventual annual capacity to 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs.

Closer to South Shore, Port Redwing in Gibsonton continues to attract new tenants. SESCO Cement officially opened a 14-acre import terminal there in June with nearly 100,000 tons of storage capacity. The company first leased seven acres at Port Redwing in 2019 and expanded to about 14 acres in 2020, according to the Business Observer. SESCO anticipates moving up to 700,000 tons of materials through the facility by the end of 2026. The expansion was expected to create 25 local jobs.

The port handles 33 million tons of cargo per year and generates more than $34.6 billion in economic impact, supporting more than 192,000 jobs in Central Florida, according to port figures. Container volume has grown more than 300% since 2018.

Channel deepening construction could start as early as 2027.