Celebration at Port Manatee in 2009 for the arrival of Big Joe the new container crane.

MANATEE -- Carlos Buqueras a 20-year veteran of cargo, cruise and ferry development at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale has been selected as the next executive director at the giant but undeveloped Port Manatee on Tampa Bay near Bradenton.

 Buqueras is currently director of business development at Port Everglades, a post he has held since 1993. He was most recently working on ferry development linking Port Everglades with the Bahamas and eventually Cuba. But his cache also included substantial experience working with contentious cruise lines and potent cargo terminal operators.

 

His departure along with the already announced retirement of Phil Allen, the port’s executive director, leaves a huge power vacuum at Port Everglades at a moment when the port is working to hold its cruise tenants, add fuel terminal operations, dredge a deeper channel and adapt the port facility for near dock rail.

 

Buqueras’s resume included increasing containerized cargo by 247 percent during his tenure there. Increasing its cargo capacity and business is one of the main goals of Port Manatee.

 

Port Manatee’s executive director post carries an annual salary of $150,000 to $190,000.

 

David McDonald, the port’s current executive director, is retiring at the end of this year after 20 years in the post and many thought he would be succeeded by Steve Tyndal, Port Manatee’s development and communication executive who, along with McDonald, spent his entire career building the port.

 

Authority members told the Bradenton Herald they hope Buqueras will start work in November or December and take some time to be mentored directly by McDonald.

 

Tyndal’s future is not certain and the issue was not raised by the local paper.

 

Port Manatee has recently opened a container cargo berth designed to handle Post Panamax vessels with a draft up to 40 feet. It has specialized berths to offload bulk, breakbulk and liquid products, especially concentrated citrus juice. The huge undeveloped facility also offers a link to CSX railroad and easy access to the state’s Interstate System. It terms of potential, it is probably the best port location in Florida, only challenged by access under the Sunshine Sky Bridge but a far shorter approach than the Port of Tampa.

 

Some reporting from the Bradenton Herald.