The Port of Manatee's storage facilities in 1975 were 326,000 ft^ of cov- 

 ered storage and a bulk petroleum storage capacity of 3,800,000 barrels (bbl). 

 Ship berthing facilities included two shallow berths 20 ft deep, and five deep 

 berths ranging from 37 ft to 40 ft deep. 



The Port of Manatee is used mainly for bulk cargo. Almost 90% of the 

 port's business is petroleum and petroleum products. Estimates of the 

 throughput capacity of the Port of Manatee in 1975 are given in Table 5. 



Port Manatee began cargo service in 1970 and in 1980 petroleum, phos- 

 phate, fertilizer, feed, cement, scrap steel, plywood, pipe, and offshore 

 drilling materials generated 5 million tons of commerce. Of this total, 3 

 million tons were petroleum receipts and 1.5 million tons were fertilizer/ 

 phosphate shipments. No forecasts were made for this port by the Florida 

 Waterport Systems Study (Florida Department of Transportation 1978a). Based 

 on analysis of tributary area demands, the Manatee County Port Authority has 

 estimated that its commerce should reach 8 million tons by 1985. 



St. Petersburg 



The Port of St. Petersburg is located on the west shore of Tampa Bay, 

 adjacent to the downtown area of the city of St. Petersburg. Access to the 

 port is provided by a 1.7-mile channel, maintained at a 16-ft water depth 

 which connects to the Tampa Bay Channel. Other means of access are provided 



Table 5. Throughput capacity (in tons) 

 for the Port of Manatee in 1975 (Florida 

 Department of Transportation 1978a). 



Category Capacity 



General cargo 



Ship/apron transfer 328,000 



Storage/truck transfer 333,000 



Covered storage 355,000 



Liquid bul k (fuel oil ) 



Ship/apron transfer 11,701,000 



Tank storage 9,080,000 



Storage, truck transfer 6,749,000 



Dry bul k (fertil izer) 



Ship/apron transfer 671,000 



Storage capacity 786,000 



Storage/rail transfer 516,000 



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