MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Cargo shipping issues and supply-chain hiccups have created headaches for nearly two years, but SeaPort Manatee is helping to alleviate that.

Seaport Manatee is now part of the global trade hub and has created new routes and connections with Mexico, in addition to hosting cargo ships that are now arriving to the Gulf Coast instead of off the coast of California. 

"We have been seeing more product from China coming into our ports, such as lumber, that would have maybe come in to the west coast ports," explained Virginia Zimmermann with Seaport Manatee.

Those items, which would have previously been trucked to the Tampa area, are now arriving faster.

"Pretty much as soon as it gets here it goes straight to the markets," Zimmermann said. "So it goes straight from here to a Lowe's or a Home Depot."

Through a contract with World Direction Shipping, Seaport Manatee now sees a high volume of produce come through the port weekly. The company has three cargo ships that make trips back and forth to Mexico every five days.

"They come here on a weekly basis, 2-1/2 days to Mexico and 2-1/2 days back," Zimmermann explained.

The trucks are filled with refrigerated shipping containers containing bananas, pineapples, avocados and more.

The activity has driven record-setting growth for SeaPort Manatee, including a container volume that's increased more than 30% in six months.