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PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Port Panama City hit a record breaking year for fiscal year 2022.
Port Panama City Executive Director Alex King said they moved a whopping 2.03 million tons of cargo. It also set a revenue record of $19.04 million with more than $23 million in tax revenue.
“You look at the railroad companies that serve the port, the trucking lines,” King said. “Then you look at the indirect jobs. You look at the service jobs, you look at the jobs within the community.”
The port supports nearly 11,000 jobs with a total economic input of $1.6 billion. The uptick in cargo is helping the local construction industry rebuild after Hurricane Michael.
“We’re glad to see the momentum in Bay County and Northwest Florida,” King said. “We really feel the port is well positioned to support the continued growth in our community.”
The port also kept things afloat when the pandemic threw a wrench in the global economy.
“So they found their way to these non-major container ports such as Panama City being a strong regional port,” King said. “So we were handling large volumes of great-bulk commodities that had previously gone through gateway container ports.”
That, in turn, helped Northwest Florida.
“We’ve been able to really take care of those customers and make the transition easy and keep some of those volumes traveling through Panama City,” King said. “It has contributed to sustained growth.”
Some things in the works for the port include acquiring more land for its East Terminal. King said the additional land will help support future growth for the Port and allow more cargo to be handled in the region.
Copyright 2022 WJHG. All rights reserved.
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