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A Port Hole

Why Our Port Is Being Cast To Sea'

Although the original downtown landscape was developed around the port, some currently involved with port feel that it has since been underutilized due to mixed messages from the City Council. Should the port be a port or some mix of commercial, residential and commercial.

Tom McCulley, co-chairman of the Pensacola Port User's Association and president of the Great Circle Shipping Corp., says for the past 30 years the port has not been promoted sufficiently and has been dictated by people who don't know how it should be run.

The Port of Pensacola is an enterprise operation of the City and is governed directly by City Council.

"(City Council) has got absolutely no expertise in running a sea port," he says. "They don't manage with a thumb on the airport, so they shouldn't do it with the port."

McCulley and the PPUA have also expressed concern that Port Director Clyde Mathis and his staff are not equipped with the proper budget to market the port, thereby allowing nearby ports to reap the benefits.

"You've got Florida's Great Northwest, who are one of the pillars for growing Northwest Florida and they are moving their focus to Panama City's port," says McCulley. "They are even looking at Port St. Joe, which has been closed for 10 years."

BUDGETARY ANCHOR

According to Amy Miller, the Port of Pensacola manager of marketing and finance, the port has a total marketing budget of $29,300 for the 2009 fiscal year.

McCulley says that number is far below what it should be for a port of its size.

"Give the port back, or let these guys do what they are supposed to do," he says.     "I think the people at the port have got the knowledge and the expertise to do a fine job. But are they allowed to? No."

Panama City Port Authority Deputy Director Charles Lewis says he can't speak for how things are done in Pensacola, but believes the system in which he is under works well.

"We have a port authority board that is appointed by our city commission, which has its own budget," he says. "There really is no exchange of money between the city and the port."

Lewis says the board is comprised of volunteers with backgrounds in different trades. The board hires an executive director who then hires the rest of the port staff.

"I can't say that ours is any better than those under city commission," says Lewis, "but out of the ones I've worked with, this has been the best I've seen."

SINK OR SWIM

The idea of implementing an independent port authority in Pensacola would be much like running a large business, where the port would have to generate enough money to keep its head above water.

Right now the port has room for a mixed-use zone on its property, instead of the complete industrial use it has now.

But McCulley says it's only hurting the development of the port.

"It's totally ridiculous," he says. "Take a drive from Cervantes Street to Palafox and see how many empty store fronts you see. Last time I drove by I counted 35, and that's not counting the surrounding area."

Mathis paints a different picture on port development. He says that even under the direct control of the city, the port is moving in the right direction.

"My take is I work for the city manager (Al Coby) and we both work for the City Council and that's the method that we have," he says. "I do think we can move forward and do some things that are acceptable and for the good of the community."

Mathis says he anticipates a strong push from the wind energy trade later this year and estimates Northwest Florida Cold Storage will have finished its freezer expansion by August 1.

"We're also talking to another perspective client that is involved with offshore stuff," he says. "I'm optimistic about the things that are happening."

In March, the PPUA sent a letter to Mathis, as well as City officials, expressing its concern with the future of the port.

Mathis says he hasn't specifically talked to the group about the subject, but has been communicating with members on a more regular basis.

"I think that it is a positive move and we'll continue to do that."

COMPARING THE GOODS

States such as Mississippi and Alabama are both reliant on one or two ports due to their size and limited amount of coastline. Their ports, much like Panama City and many other ports in Florida, have independent boards primarily control them.

"We have a board appointed by five county supervisors and four from the state," says Port of Pascagoula spokeswoman Betty Ann C. White. "They meet once a month to approve any changes in policy or contract."

The port is part of the Jackson County Port Authority, which has two harbors that are three miles apart.

"They are almost like two different ports," says White.  

In total, the port moves roughly 36 million pounds of cargo between private and public terminals. It is a completely industrialized port, with no mixed usage.

"Everyone seems to work as a team with no problems," she says. "Our port user's association meets once a month with the board to discuss interests."

Panama City only handles 1.5 million pounds of cargo each year, but does have several large manufacturers on its property as well as a labor staff. It also has 260,000 square feet of covered storage space.

"We employee the labor to handle cargo at the port," says Lewis. "The stevedore companies do the loading on and off the ship, we just handle it."

Lewis says he would be wary of mixed usage at his small port.

"You need a certain amount of capacity."

The Port of Pensacola sits on 50 acres and has roughly 400,000 square feet of covered storage.

McCulley says the storage facilities are some of the best around, but feels the mixed usage zoning that City Council has pushed will ultimately weaken the port further.

"We need a mixed-use port like I need a hole in my head," he says. "They have systematically over the past 30 years taken away the assets but not given back any of the benefits."

He says that a port-owned restaurant or business could be successful if it is done right.

"I was recently in Cape Canaveral and ate at the restaurant on port property," he says. "We had to wait an hour to get a table. The people there don't seem to mind looking at the cranes or ships come in with cargo."

BRINGING OUT THE BIG GUNS

For years there has been talk of bringing in a cruise ship to the port that would dock at Plaza Deluna and provide an economic boost to the south end of Palafox Street.

But the idea has recently gone mute, which some speculate to be due in part to Mobile, New Orleans and Tampa absorbing the majority of the cruise business.

McCulley, who was an assistant port director in the early 1990s, believes the issue has been dead for years.

"When I got (to Pensacola) they said it was only a matter of years before we got it," he says. "But I think we're now behind the eight ball."

McCulley says a cruise ship could have been possible if they marketed it right, but now the port needs to focus on bringing in economic activity through more business-such as the GE windmill contract the port was awarded in 2007.

"It really is a great port," he says. "The windmill cargos, just with seven or eight shipments, generated $2.5 million in port income. That was $500,000 for the port and $2 million for the Pate Stevedore."

But to generate additional prosperity at the port, McCulley says the City has to get past the necessities of progress.

"You're going to have trucks, you're going to have rail cars, you're going to have freighters," he says. "We can't have a situation where a million dollar project is brought before the city and they say, Oh no, we're concerned about the wastewater runoff.'

"A board of directors that understands the port would know things such as that are never issues."

sean@inweekly.net

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