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According to managers at the Port of Jacksonville, the port will focus on five strategic initiatives this year as it begins its decade of development.
Facilities Jaxport is managing the construction of the new TraPac Container Terminal, a 158-acre facility for Japanese steamship company MOL. The terminal is scheduled to open in December to accommodate new ship service with Asia (and eventually Europe and Latin America). Complex construction and site preparation is well under way with the arrival of gantry cranes scheduled for May.
Built on a sandy littoral swamp, the terminal is coming in under budget because of tight collaboration between the port and W.G. Yates and Sons Construction, which won the low bids for three major areas of initial work: dredging the berthing area to 40 feet; building 2,400 linear feet of berth space; and paving, lighting and fencing the 130-acre cargo storage area.
Yates Construction, based in Philadelphia, Miss., has been in business for more than 40 years and has 21 offices across the southeastern United States. In 2006, Engineering News-Record listed Yates as the 25th-largest construction firm in the nation.
Using the latest in construction techniques, including satellite measurement and soil compression, the port’s terminal area will be absolutely flat and sufficiently oriented that TraPac will be able to operate automated container stacking equipment using Global Positioning System equipment to precisely locate containers.
TraPac is owned by the same company that recently secured approval for expansion of its terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. It expects to handle 800,000 TEU’s of containerized cargo each year, doubling Jaxport’s yearly container throughput.
The Jacksonville Port Authority and Hanjin Shipping Co, in March signed a detailed development agreement for a 170-acre container terminal facility.
The port in a release stated that the agreement expands on the memorandum of understanding signed with Hanjin in October 2007.
“Talks will now move toward a final long-term lease agreement, with Jaxport’s board of directors expected to approve a lease in the next few months,” the port stated.
The new agreement identifies two potential locations for the proposed terminal, to be jointly chosen by Hanjin and Jaxport. In addition, a funding structure for the project was selected for recommendation to Jaxport’s board, following the evaluation of several available options. The options were not disclosed because of the precarious revenue bonding situation and the uncertainty of the terminal location.
The Hanjin Container Terminal is slated to open in 2011. The estimated cost for development is $400 million.
Litigation
The Jacksonville Port Authority has authorized use of eminent domain to purchase a 167-acre site, which is considered the primary location for the future Hanjin terminal and an intermodal center along the St. John’s River east of Jacksonville.
The port authority has been negotiating for the land with New York businessman Abraham Zion for two years with no progress toward an agreement. It is hoped that the threat of eminent domain will jumpstart negotiations.
The zoned industrial property is located off Heckscher Drive. Port Executive Director Richard Ferrin said plans call for construction of a new container terminal for Hanjin on one part of the parcel and a rail intermodal yard on another that would serve Hanjin and the adjacent TraPac container terminal currently under construction. Rail carrier CSX operates a spur near the two planned terminals but has not been identified as the operator of the intermodal yard.
The port is also involved in condemnation for property owned by Keystone Coal Co. On this one, the port authority and the owners are as much as $42.7 million apart.
A jury trial is scheduled for April 21 to determine what the port authority must pay to take Keystone’s 70 industrial waterfront acres.
Keystone has been adamant about its desire to keep the property at the northern terminus of Talleyrand Avenue, saying it has long sought property in northeastern Florida to build a coal terminal.
Ferrin said the port authority has considered leasing the property, if acquired, to a coal handling company. That could generate millions of dollars in rent and fees that could be used to pay the port authority’s share of the cost to deepen the shipping channel in the St. Johns River.
Dredging
Planning is under way to deepen a 5.3-mile section of the St. Johns River’s main shipping channel from its current depth of 38 feet to 41 feet. With partial funding in place, the project is expected to begin this year.
When completed, Jacksonville’s entire 21-mile shipping channel will enjoy a 41-foot depth. Jaxport is also working with the Army Corps of Engineers to examine additional deepening in the future.
Port security
Jaxport continues to implement tight security standards at its marine terminals. This year, the port will open a new security operations center near the Dames Point and Blount Island Marine terminals. The facility will consolidate the command, control and communications of Jaxport’s dedicated security force and centralize the port’s cooperative efforts with federal, state and local law enforcement. In addition, the port will begin implementing the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential, which requires all regular port users to be registered with the Department of Homeland Security.
Cruise service
Carnival Cruise Lines offers year-round service from Jacksonville, embarking more than 128,000 passengers annually. In addition to attracting other cruise lines to the homeport or offering “port of call” visits to Northeast Florida, Jaxport is reviewing options to build a new, permanent cruise terminal, possibly at Mayport, the base of the St. Johns River Ferry that port took over in 2007.
Jaxport has reduced the ferry’s operational expenses in terms of fuel purchasing and maintenance. And the port plans to continue to explore ways to streamline the operation and reduce expenses so that the service will continue to be available for area residents, commuters and tourists.
Alongside these efforts, the port is attempting to acquire other industrial waterfront property to help accommodate new business, working with existing customers to increase their volumes and attempting to reduce the impact of port traffic on its neighbors.
Ferrin recently told the Jacksonville Times-Union editorial board that the inevitable increase in truck traffic will come over a number of years and that the port is spending $12 million to make intersection improvements in the Heckscher, 9A and New Berlin Road area to handle the initial rush.
Long-term solutions, Ferrin said, could include adding trucks-only ramps and lanes to 9A, and building a new railyard to help handle the port cargo.
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