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{{stub}}The present-day Port of Pensacola occupies approximately 50 acres of landfill at the southern terminus of [[Barracks Street]] in [[downtown Pensacola]], on the site of the former [[Commendencia Street Wharf|Commendencia Street]] and [[Tarragona Street Wharf|Tarragona Street]] wharves. The Port has eight berths, 265,000 square feet of warehouse space, and on-dock rail service. The importance of Pensacola as a port city declined significantly over the latter half of the 20th century with the introduction of [[Wikipedia:Containerization|containerization]] to the shipping industry. Other Gulf ports such as New Orleans, Mobile, and Tampa, which can handle containerized traffic, have eclipsed the Port of Pensacola, which cannot. The decline in traffic has resulted in significant, sustained financial losses for the Port. Accordingly, the future of the Port has become a political issue, with groups such as [[Take Back the Port]] advocating its closure.
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The '''Port of Pensacola''' is an operational [[Deep Water City|deep-water]] port located on [[Pensacola Bay]], occupying approximately 50 acres at the southern terminus of [[Barracks Street]] in [[downtown Pensacola]]. With origins dating back to [[1743]], it is now one of the [[City of Pensacola]]'s [[City of Pensacola Enterprise Operations|Enterprise Operations]], having been incorporated in [[1943]] as the '''Municipal Port Authority'''.
==History==
The first recorded export of commercial cargo from Pensacola, a shipment of pine and pitch products, took place in [[1743]]. Pensacola's first private commercial dock was built in [[1784]].
[[Image:1940waterfront.PNG|thumb|right|This 1940 aerial view of Pensacola's waterfront illustrates how Pensacola's port facilities looked in the first half of the 20th century, with [[Commendencia Street Wharf|Commendencia Street]], [[Tarragona Street Wharf|Tarragona Street]] and [[Muscogee Wharf|Muscogee]] wharves intact.]]
In the early 1940s, the [[Pensacola Exchange Club]] hosted a forum called the "[[Civic Roundtable]]," where representatives from [[Rotary]], [[Lions Club]], [[Kiwanis]], the [[Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce|Chamber]], the [[Jaycees]] and others would meet to discuss business issues, among them the port, which was enjoying a [[World War II|wartime]] resurgence. The group pressed State Representative [[Dave Thomas]] to introduce a bill in the Florida legislature creating the Municipal Port Authority in the spring term of [[1943]]. Its members were initially appointed by state senator and included [[J. D. Johnson]], [[Henry Hilton-Green]], [[Calvin L. Todd]], [[William S. Rosasco]], [[W. V. Fauria]], [[Morris Levy]], [[J. H. McCormack]], [[J. W. Smith, Jr.]], [[Charles W. Smith]], [[J. H. Allen]] and [[R. H. Turner, Jr.]] (Later members would be appointed by the [[Pensacola City Council]], which also approved annual funding to the Port Authority, as it had no taxing authority of its own.) The group first convened on [[July 7]], 1943 in Council's chambers.
