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Editorial: Picture brightens for bay area trade

 
Published July 27, 2016

While the public has been treated for the past two weeks to denunciations of global trade at the Republican and Democratic national conventions, back here in the real world, the Tampa Bay region has celebrated several developments that will boost the area's economy and profile.

Port Tampa Bay on Tuesday announced a new weekly container shipping service between Tampa and Mexico. As the Tampa Bay Times' Justine Griffin reports, the service will deliver container goods, including refrigerated items, offering a new option for delivering cargo from the bay area. Mexico is already one of the port's top trading partners, and the new deal could expand the trade in commodities, consumer products and other items, and further open the I-4 corridor as a distribution hub in Florida.

The service provider, Linea Peninsular, will use the new $24 million post-Panamax gantry cranes recently delivered to the port to load and unload cargo. That investment was a forward-looking move that officials hope will position the region to take advantage of new opportunities for trade made possible by the expansion of the Panama Canal. Think shipping lanes, not border walls.

On Monday, United Airlines announced that it would begin operating daily nonstop service between Tampa International Airport and San Francisco. This is one of the most in-demand destinations in the country, and landing the route was one of the airport's highest priorities. The flights will save travelers time and money, and open a pipeline between Tampa Bay and the tech-rich West Coast that officials say will be key in attracting talent and venture capital to the bay area's growing high-tech sector.

These developments testify to the wisdom of Florida and the bay area in investing billions in its airports and seaports. Global trade is not only here to stay, but the real winners will be those communities that continue to build a modern infrastructure, a modern workforce and a quality of life that competes worldwide for the best and brightest. This is no time for the region, much less the nation, to withdraw. The sound bites in Cleveland and Philadelphia may speak to public anger and anxieties that are easy to understand, but they are not policies for joining the march of progress.