Posted on December 20, 2016
By Jensen Werley, JBJ
The Jacksonville Port Authority started 2016 facing down competition from other ports, with Brunswick in Georgia and Port Canaveral both pledging investment in their auto shipping businesses, a core business for Jaxport.
Jaxport — and all Florida ports — were snubbed in Februar y from federal funding for any construction projects, which drew the ire of the Florida Ports Council and Congressman Ander Crenshaw. Jaxport did, however, get $7.28 million for routine maintenance.
Despite the troubles the project has had in securing enough funding, Jaxport CEO Brian Taylor said that construction for deepening the St. Johns River harbor would begin in early 2017. Construction would start for the first phase, due to the state fronting the port the money.
At the State of the Port address in March, Taylor showed that Jaxport is growing, with the Asian container trade up 30 percent. That growth is a signal, Taylor said, that container trade at Jaxport would continue growing if the harbor was deeper at the port could accommodate larger ships.
In April, some of the consequences of not dredging came to light, with talks of Trapac leaving if it didn’t have access to deep water. Negotiations between Jaxport and the shipper have been ongoing.
April was also the time that the first railcars hit the track at the new Intermodal Container Transfer Facility. The six-track ICTF is now up and running.
Disputes between Jaxport and the St. Johns Riverkeeper heated up, with the Riverkeeper resubmitting its petition against the dredging project.
Over the summer, the expanded Panama Canal opened, a benchmark for ports that are growing and deepening their harbor in response to the larger ships coming through.
The summer also saw the announcement of $127 million in capital projects and the promise that Crowley Maritime Corp. would be moving to Jaxport property in 2017.
The Army Corps of Engineers responded to the Riverkeeper’s lawsuit, saying that it was exempt from the permit the Riverkeeper challenged the Army Corps on to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
New cranes for Jaxport arrived, part of the port authority’s gearing up and investing for larger ships. The three 100-gauge cranes were funded by a $37.6 million investment from Jaxport, with a $15 million grant from the Florida Department of Transportation.
In the fall, the Hanjin bankruptcy saw Jacksonville shippers waiting on goods, and now leaves a vacuum for other shippers to succeed or sink next.
Now, Jaxport is ending the year focusing in on securing the funding for dredging. In December, port representatives presented the case for deepening the harbor to elected officials, with the hope that they will take it on as a key issue in 2017.
Source: JBJ
