TAMPA, Fla. — An auto shipping company is about to take up a lot more room on the Tampa, Fla., waterfront. Port Tampa Bay said Monday that Glovis America has signed a long-term deal for roughly 32 more acres beside the docks at Hooker’s Point, the industrial peninsula that serves as the main cargo hub of the port.
Glovis America, the U.S. logistics arm of the South Korean firm Hyundai Glovis, already runs a 48.5-acre terminal there. With the new land, its footprint will top 80 acres, a jump of about two-thirds, and the site will be able to hold some 10,000 vehicles, including about 3,000 new parking spaces for cars waiting to ship out.
The work is happening in two stages. Crews started on the first 12 acres in August, and the other 20 acres are expected to be done by the close of 2027. The second stage includes stormwater systems, paving and security fencing, and port staff have put its cost at about $15 million, based on board minutes.
Port commissioners signed off on a lease change for the deal in May. It stretches the lease from 10 years to 20 and adds two optional 10-year renewals.
Glovis is also wrapping up a remodel of a 33,000-square-foot structure on the site, and a body shop plus a car wash are in the works there too. Keeping more cars right next to the berths and near the CSX rail lines means fewer shuttle runs to outside storage lots, the company said, which should help it go after work from more automakers across Florida and the Southeast.
Since teaming up with the port in 2022, Glovis has handled upward of 160,000 vehicles there, according to a port executive. The cars come and go on roll-on, roll-off ships that let drivers steer vehicles straight on and off the vessel.
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