SeaPort Manatee sets cargo records in fiscal 2025

PALMETTO — More cargo is flowing through SeaPort Manatee than ever in the 55-year history of the maritime trade hub for Southwest and Central Florida, according to record results reported on Tuesday for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

SeaPort Manatee handled an all-time-high total throughput of 11,855,828 tons of cargo in fiscal 2025, slightly surpassing the prior record of 11,779,601 tons moved in fiscal 2024, while also reporting best-ever levels of liquid and dry bulk activity.

“The latest record results highlight the vital role SeaPort Manatee plays in our local and regional economy,” said Mike Rahn, chairman of the Manatee County Port Authority. “We are committed to continuing to advance the capabilities of the port to efficiently move increasing volumes of such critical commodities as gasoline, fruit juices, fresh produce, and construction materials.”

Petroleum products and juices were key contributors to the record 6,400,844 tons of liquid bulk moving through SeaPort Manatee in fiscal 2025, up 8 percent from the preceding 12-month period, while the dry bulk pinnacle of 3,442,991 tons – up 9.7 percent from fiscal 2024 – was boosted by consistent flows of such commodities as phosphate rock, granite and limestone.

Breakbulk tonnage rose 10.4 percent from fiscal 2024, reaching 793,128 tons in the recently completed 12-month period, as Del Monte shifted its tropical fruit imports from containerized to breakbulk. Commensurately, SeaPort Manatee’s containerized cargo volume declined to 919,556 tons from the record 1,283,027 tons the preceding fiscal year, and the number of 20-foot-equivalent units handled declined to 133,456 from the record 168,897 TEUs of a year earlier.

“SeaPort Manatee has proven its resilience through its rapid recovery from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall just south of the port on Oct. 9, 2024, only nine days into fiscal 2025,” said Carlos Buqueras, SeaPort Manatee’s executive director. “Not only were crucial fuel distribution activities resumed within hours of the storm’s landfall, but the port also swiftly restarted shipments of a host of consumer and industrial goods, including lumber, plywood and aluminum used in our region’s rebuilding process.”