Port Tampa Bay re-opens; gasoline begins to flow

As the largest port in the state of Florida, Port Tampa Bay ranks 12th in the country by trade volume. With 70 miles of channels, the port – approximately 40 nautical miles from the entrance to the bay – is difficult to navigate with radar, maps and markers alone. Every vessel over a certain size, including all commercial vessels, must take on an experienced harbor pilot to bring it into, or out of the bay.

That includes fuel tankers, and since the “entrance channel” from the Gulf of Mexico to Port Tampa Bay wasn’t re-opened until Saturday afternoon, gasoline was not being delivered.

The port is responsible for seven billion gallons of fuel, or nearly half the fuel the state relies on daily, for residents, businesses, military bases, and airports across the state each year.

The gridlock has now been broken, and much-needed gasoline is returning to Pinellas County and other affected areas. The automobile service company AAA said 85 percent of stations to have gas by tonight, and for supplies to be back to normal by Wednesday morning.

Over the weekend the engineering consulting firm Woolpert – which operates from the Maritime and Defense Technology Hub in downtown St. Petersburg – worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Coast Survey, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the safe return of maritime commerce.

“When a storm of this magnitude impacts a commerce-rich environment like Tampa, there is a high likelihood that it will drag debris into the navigation channels, which are important economic lifelines to these regions,” Woolpert Vice President Dave Neff said in a prepared statement. “In addition to clearing the way for emergency supplies, this work provides a critical service to quickly reopen shipping and commerce that equates to millions of dollars for the local economy.”

Following Hurricane Milton Wednesday, Oct. 9, the port’s seven private fuel terminals lost power. Although electricity was restored Friday, port personnel were required to conduct “a necessary and thorough safety test to ensure their facilities could discharge fuel without incident.”

Major American maritime carriers are set to deliver over 100 million gallons of fuel to Florida’s ports over the next 10 days.