TAMPA, Fla (WFLA) – The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, is aiming to help seaports across the United States.

With this new bill, more than $5 billion will go toward port specific programs to help with infrastructure. Port Tampa Bay is one of the ports that will benefit significantly from this new bill.

“New investments in operations and maintenance, new investments in infrastructure, investments to ensure that Port Tampa Bay is resilient to the changing climate,” said Congresswoman Kathy Castor.

Port Tampa Bay President and CEO Paul Anderson tells 8 On Your Side this new bill will allow the port to get new capacity for their container terminal.

“Our container business grew by 30% last year, we have planned for a 50% increase this year, that’s consumer goods, and we are going to expand the terminal, so instead of 2 ships at a time we can handle 3 ships at a time,” said Paul Anderson, President/CEO of Port Tampa Bay.

He adds that this new infrastructure investment will help Port Tampa Bay to stay competitive in the global marketplace.

“It helps us keep up with other nations around the world in both intermodal transportation, cargo movement and freight movement,” added Anderson.

Congresswoman Castor adds that this new infrastructure bill will create an economic opportunity and thousands of jobs.