Port Tampa Bay increasing parking fees, tariffs on cruise passengers
Port Tampa Bay will raise tariffs on more than a dozen services over the next few years, including fees on parking, cruise ships and passengers.
Port commissioners on Tuesday approved the 13 tariff hikes — the most in one year since 2014 — following an annual review of its finances and fees at other ports around the Gulf Coast and Southeast.
“I would say 99 out of 100 times, our rates are on the low end, if not the lowest,” Greg Lovelace, the port’s senior director of business development, said at the port’s monthly board meeting. “For the most part, we remain very competitive.”
The revised tariffs include 5% increases on wharfage for bulk and general cargo and a 3% annual increase on dockage, both starting Oct. 1. Dockage fees apply when a ship berths at a dock; wharfage fees apply when cargo is unloaded.
Parking for cruise passengers at port facilities will increase by 5% starting in October 2023. That would push the daily rates of $15 per car and $30 per bus or recreational vehicle to $15.75 and $31.50, respectively. That same month, cruise companies will see passenger wharfage rates rise from $8 to $8.50 per passenger, and cruise ship dockage increase by 5%.
Also increasing 5%: harbor master and license fees, throughput rates and fees for stevedore usage, short-term land usage and weighing and loading vehicles. Those increases start Oct. 1.
The tariffs, Lovelace said, are used for things like dock construction, facility maintenance and compliance with U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations.
The port will hold a public meeting on its 2023 budget and millage rate at 5 p.m. Wednesday at its Joseph Garcia International Center, 1101 Channelside Drive. For details, see porttb.com.
