Public-Private Partnership to Start Construction of 130,000-SF Logistics Cold Storage Food Facility at Port Tampa Bay, FL

 

George Livingston

TAMPA, FL --- A public-private partnership that includes Port Logistics Tampa Bay I, Inc., and Port Tampa Bay will start construction of a 130,000-square foot state-of-the-art intermodal cold storage food products facility at Port Tampa Bay early next year.

When it opens in November 2016, the $19.1 million facility will employ 50 full-time workers and up to 200 part-time workers, said long-time Central Florida industrial developer George Livingston, a principal in Port Logistics.

Livingston said the Tampa Port Authority Board recently approved a 27-year lease to Port Logistics Tampa Bay I for the 13.7 acres where the facility will be developed on Hookers Point at Port Tampa Bay in downtown Tampa.

The Tampa Port Authority has engaged Atlanta-based Batson-Cook Company as contract manager for the project.

Port Logistics Tampa Bay I will be responsible for interior improvements and all terminal operations, providing cold supply chain operations at the Port, Livingston said.

The facility will receive, label, package and distribute temperature controlled food products from foreign ports, Livingston explained. “We expect to operate almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

“In our first year of operation we expect to accommodate 100 vessels with 400,000 pallets, along with 70 to 80 trucks per day entering and leaving the facility,” Livingston added.

Port Tampa Bay

Products will include perishable goods, fruits, vegetables, pharmaceuticals and any other products that require temperature control.

Refrigerated ships arriving at Port Tampa Bay will shave three days off their voyage to Philadelphia, which hosts the principal cold storage food facilities on the eastern seaboard, according to Allen Huie, a principal and co-founder of Port Logistics.

Huie, an investment banker in Hong Kong, has partnered with Livingston on several other previous ventures.

Port Logistics has formed alliances with some of the largest and most experienced providers in the intermodal shipping industry for the Port Tampa Bay project,” Huie explained, “ including”:

 For a complete copy of the company’s news release, please contact:

Larry Vershel Communications, Inc. Larry Vershel or Beth Payan 407-644-4142 or 407-461-3781 Lvershelco@aol.com.