JAXPORT: The Numbers Aren't What You Think They Are!
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A report by The Northeast Florida Center for Community Initiatives at University of North Florida's Department of Sociology and Anthropology suggests economic and job creation numbers at JAXPORT may be misleading to the general public. Here is a snippet from that report and link back to the full document.
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-jul-jaxport-the-numbers-arent-what-you-think-they-are
Thanks MetroJax for the update and information.
Was on the water yesterday and noticed 7 barges rafted up north of Exchange Club Island. Up from the two or three that I've seen in the past. Just an observation.
Need to finish reading the report.
But right now I oppose the blasting and increasing the depth to 47'
I think it is very good to know the actual break down. What are the current Direct jobs, is this up or down from 2009?
With regards to future port business and jobs, is there any reason why a shipping company would choose Jacksonville over any of the other ports? Even if we did go to 47' depth at great expense?
QuoteThe recent experience of Savannah is instructive as it is further along than JAXPORT in the effort to dredge and deepen its channel to accommodate the large container vessels. Like Jacksonville, Savannah has a channel that is too shallow at 42 feet and thus is working through the process with the Army Corp of Engineers to have the Savannah River dredged to 50 feet. It is worth noting that this relatively shallow depth has not prevented Savannah from being the fastest growing port in the U.S. over the past decade and far surpassing Jaxport in total container throughput. This suggests that channel depth is not the only consideration when shippers and carriers make decisions about where to move their cargo, though some believe this factor will increase in importance.
The Corp has recently given preliminary approval for the Savannah project, but only up to 47 feet based on their cost-benefit calculations. In addition, as part of the review process, the Corp has conducted one of the only economic impact studies of the Savannah port. One of its conclusions is quite striking: "no additional cargo volume through Savannah Harbor as a result of the proposed harbor deepening".
And to think I looked at Savannah as a role model for JaxPort. This is a great report for those that have the time to read it all. Definitely shows, in my opinion, that Mile Point project is way more vital and cost beneficial to the future of the port.
It is a great report. It echos what I heard a few weeks ago from a consultant working with FEC and the Port of Miami. Even if we don't end up dredging to 47 -50', there's still a ton of growth potential, as Savannah has clearly proven.
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This conclusion won't float. The larger ships with deeper draft are not calling on the ports in the southeast yet, so naturally there has been no traffic slump with the economies of larger ships taking their business elsewhere. We're not there yet, but the day is coming.
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This may well be true of Jaxport too, the flip side of this is without the ability to handle the worlds new surface fleet there will eventually be NO CARGO VOLUME moving through either port. Deepen or die, it's as simple as that.
So you don't think we'd see any growth if we don't figure out how to dredge down to 48'-50'? In your mind, is this just Jax specific or do you think all ports that don't get that deep for a certain component of shipping will die?
Also, you saw the same presentation I did at the North Florida TPO last month. Sounds like you disagree with the opinion of the consultant for FEC. He listed several reasons why Savannah has become the fastest growing East Coast port that had nothing to do with channel depth. What's your take on his opinion on Savannah and FEC's strategy with South Florida's ports?
Quote from: thelakelander on July 19, 2013, 08:06:42 AM
So you don't think we'd see any growth if we don't figure out how to dredge down to 48'-50'? In your mind, is this just Jax specific or do you think all ports that don't get that deep for a certain component of shipping will die?
Let's start by making it clear we are talking about port related growth. I believe that
Jaxport and any other port that fails to keep up with the industries choice of vessels will ultimately go the route of St. Augustine. The smaller ships currently calling at Jaxport will be bumped to secondary services, with fewer and fewer vessels in each passing year. Eventually these ships will join the galeón cargo vessels in the scrapheap of eternity.
QuoteAlso, you saw the same presentation I did at the North Florida TPO last month. Sounds like you disagree with the opinion of the consultant for FEC. He listed several reasons why Savannah has become the fastest growing East Coast port that had nothing to do with channel depth. What's your take on his opinion on Savannah and FEC's strategy with South Florida's ports?
No disagreement at all, in fact we chatted this up to some length at the end of the presentation and he agrees with me that the industry is undergoing another (sail to steam?) historic change. The value added concept worked great for Savannah, but it too will stall and eventually began to sink if they don't open the door for the larger ships that will be taking over. The reinvention of Miami by the FEC RY is going to make it tough for any more northernly east coast port, but in this respect we are in a better location the many others to offer something unique. We've got the superior rail connections west and northwest, connections no other Florida port can have and Savannah doesn't have.
The new Post Panamax ships will likely continue to call on several ports to load or off-load, but again, like railroads before them, that too is likely to slowly be consolidated into fewer, larger, mega-terminals. We either are one, or we are not, but we need to understand by saying no, we are standing on the beach waiting to sight that last galeón as she sails up a river too shallow, and under a bridge and power lines too low.
Note my use of 'slowly' and 'eventually,' this is why I'm not in sync with having to have 50' the day the canal opens, we've got time, 10-30 years certainly, 50-100 doubtful, beyond that NOT A CHANCE. This is evolutionary so putting dates on it is silly for those on either side of the argument.
Lets look at this another way? The Port of Long Beach CA is right on the Pacific Ocean with a 76-foot-deep channel to handle a new generation of large vessels. And the Naval Station Mayport is right on the Atlantic Ocean. With all the budget cuts and the fact we may never get the Nuclear Aircraft Carrier we were once promised? If the U.S. Government turned N.S.M. back to the people of Florida. We would then have a new easier way to deepen the St Johns River at it's mouth into the old Naval Station Mayport so the Monster new Post Panamax ships could dock. And not have to deepen the St Johns river all the way to Blount Island and beyond? Sure Heckscher Drive would have to be made into a Major roadway with four to six lanes to move the truck traffic coming and going into the New Port and back out to I-295. A bridge or tunnel would also have to be built to get the truck traffic from Mayport over to Heckecher Drive. The area would change but we would have another port in which those "New Post Panamax Ships" could call Jacksonville home.
I disagree, as much as VA wants to hold onto aircraft carriers based in the Atlantic, they simply won't. Right now there is construction on the pier at Mayport to accommodate a nuclear capable carrier. No matter how much money lobbyists throw at VA, it comes down to simple logic. An enemy can detonate a ship in the Chesapeake Bay or the Bay Bridge Tunnel and trap every ship in port. CT cannot handle a carrier, opening up the reserve base in Brooklyn has deemed not fiscally beneficial, rightfully. And talk of basing major operations out PR have gone no where. A new command operation for these new Littoral class ships, basically a computerized ship with only about 90 crew has been established here. in addition to a new, smaller than Predator drone that has been being tested out of JAXNAS, I would say Mayport has a long future ahead for the US Navy. JaxPort would cease to exist before the Navy IMO. And for budget needs, they can close several smaller ports in New England for greater savings. Mayport plays a very large role in the US Navy around the world.
Same thing could be accomplished running a 7 mile rail spur out along the north side of Hecksher and creating a container terminal between Atlantic Shipyards and the Ferry Landing. Yes it takes out 20 or so houses, but it might be the lowest price answer without more extensive damage to the river.
Quote from: Ocklawaha on July 19, 2013, 01:42:04 PM
Same thing could be accomplished running a 7 mile rail spur out along the north side of Hecksher and creating a container terminal between Atlantic Shipyards and the Ferry Landing. Yes it takes out 20 or so houses, but it might be the lowest price answer without more extensive damage to the river.
Good Idea!
Maersk Give Details of Emma Maersk Incident
Monday July 15, 2013
Maersk Line's 15,500 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity containership Emma Maersk will return to service on the Asia-Europe route on July 18, five months after being damaged in an accident, Seatrade Global reports.
The newest edition of Maersk Line's Maersk Post magazine offers details of the February incident, in which a propeller tore loose from the ship, making a hole in the hull.
"Alarms were ringing all around us," said the vessel's chief engineer, Michael Sort.
"There was a large hole and water was pouring in.
"We could not stop it, but we went in, reached into the water and opened the suction valves for the pumping system.
"
Alarms were ringing all around us
Michael Sort, Chief Engineer, Emma Maersk
The water eventually rose to a height of 16 metres, half filling the engine room, but, with the help of a sudden change in the wind direction, Captain Marius Gardastuvo and his crew manoeuvred the ship into the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT).
The hole in the ship was repaired at SCCT, and Emma Maersk was then towed to Fincantieri's Pallermo yard, where the ship was fully repaired and trials were carried out. http://shipandbunker.com/news/world/588080-maersk-give-details-of-emma-maersk-incident
And in other news on this same website:
Aft Part of MOL Comfort Sinks with 1,500 Metric Tonnes of Fuel Oil Onboard
Thursday June 27th 2013
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) says the aft part of the containership MOL Comfort sank today in the open sea at 16:48 JST, 11:48 Dubai time, near 14'26"N 66'26"E at a water depth of about 4,000m.
About 1,500 metric tonnes of fuel oil was estimated to be aboard in the tanks of the aft part, but no large volume of oil leakage is confirmed at this moment.
MOL said that approximately 1,700 containers aboard the aft part sank with the vessel section, some of which are confirmed floating near the site.
MOL added that patrol boats it has in the area are monitoring the situation, checking for oil leakage and floating containers.
The fore part of the vessel is being "stably towed" toward the Arabian Gulf.
MOL Comfort broke into two parts last week after it suffered a crack amidships during inclement weather around 200 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen. http://shipandbunker.com/news/world/729684-aft-part-of-mol-comfort-sinks-with-1500-metric-tonnes-of-fuel-oil-onboard
My point for showing these two stories is just because we can build these Container Ships bigger don't bet your life they are going to be safer? Here is more info on the MOL Comfort http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOL_Comfort
Policy Initiative Spotlight: Teddy's Big Ditch Grows Deeper
by Steven J. Markovich
March 11, 2013
This summer, a billion-dollar project will begin to raise the road deck of the Bayonne Bridge that links Staten Island to Jersey City, and provides access to Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel. The project is not being undertaken because of safety concerns about the current bridge, but rather to allow larger container ships to pass underneath it and reach the Port of New York and New Jersey. It's just one of several port projects in anticipation of the widening of the Panama Canal.
By early 2015, the Panama Canal is scheduled to complete a $5.25 billion expansion project that began in 2007 to widen and deepen existing navigational channels to allow larger ships to traverse the isthmus, and construct new sets of locks to increase capacity.
The scale of global trade has increased remarkably since Theodore Roosevelt championed the U.S. effort to build the canal. From 1915 to 2012, tonnage to cross the 48-mile link increased from 5 million to 334 million. Today, the largest ships that can cross the isthmus are the so-called panamax vessels that can carry 4,500 shipping containers. The expansion project—the largest undertaken since the canal opened in 1914—will allow post-panamax vessels carrying nearly three times that cargo to make that journey.
It's an important development for global commerce. Post-panamax ships have lower shipping costs; per container costs are more than 50 percent less than a panamax ship. While post-panamax vessels account for only 16 percent of the global container fleet, they already carry 45 percent of cargo, with those shares projected to respectively grow to 27 and 62 percent by 2013.
Analysts say the canal's expansion will be a particular boon to the shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG). LNG tankers are too large to pass through today's Panama Canal. With the Sabine Pass LNG export terminal expected to open in Louisiana in 2015, and other terminals proposed, the expansion project is well-timed to aid the flow of natural gas from shale fields in the United States to Asian energy markets where the price for this resource is several times higher. Some experts estimate the canal expansion could reduce shipping costs on this route by $1 per million BTU.
CFR Senior Fellow Michael Levi explained the benefits of a wider Panama Canal to LNG trade in a study published last year with the Brooking Institution's Hamilton Project: "LNG tankers departing the Gulf of Mexico or the East Coast of the United States currently need to travel all the way around South America to reach Asia, adding considerable cost to their trips and eroding potential gains from trade."
The project has also prompted intranational competition. Los Angeles/Long Beach (LA/LB) is the nation's largest port, handling 40 percent of U.S. cargo traffic. But with the canal expansion, eastern ports could potentially take up to a quarter of LA/LB's business, so the port authority has planned $6 billion of upgrades, part of the $46 billion in upgrades to U.S. ports funded by public or private sources over the next five years.
Today, just four U.S. ports are ready for post-panamax ships: Norfolk in the east and LA/LB, Oakland, and Seattle in the west. Colliers predicts another four will be post-panamax ready by 2015: Baltimore, New York, Miami, and Houston. The infrastructure investments at these ports and others such as Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans, range from dredging waterways and adding cranes, to preparing intermodal support networks, including railways modifications for the increased height of double stacked containers.
The raising of the Bayonne Bridge is one of seven port projects the Obama administration announced it would help expedite last summer, the first set of more than 40 infrastructure projects to be fast-tracked for review by executive order. The president said the "commitment to move these port projects forward faster will help drive job growth and strengthen the economy."
Still, Robert Puentes, a transportation expert at the Brookings Institution stressed the need for greater federal leadership on this issue, perhaps in developing a comprehensive freight policy like many other nations. "I can't see the federal government picking winners and losers" he said in a New York Times interview, but "they could provide a little more guidance — where right now they are providing none." http://blogs.cfr.org/renewing-america/2013/03/11/policy-initiative-spotlight-teddys-big-ditch-grows-deeper/
Hmmm, I wasn't aware that Baltimore and Houston were also ahead of Jax in this post panamax race....
Like I've said Lake, it won't matter since this is evolutionary in nature. 30 years from now, it WILL matter, but not so much on 2015. That date is going to be the global shipping equal of the Y2K fiasco.
In less then five years a lot of the stuff we import from China will be made right here in the U.S. with are own 3D printers?
What's the future plans for Fernandina's port? Do people really expect those paper mills to be around for another 50 years?
Quote from: thelakelander on July 21, 2013, 07:02:13 AM
What's the future plans for Fernandina's port? Do people really expect those paper mills to be around for another 50 years?
Next meeting will be on August 14, 2013 at 6pm. Meeting will be at 96315 Nassau Place, Yulee Florida.
The commissioners of the Ocean Highway and Port Authority of Nassau County meet the second Wednesday of each month at 6pm.
The meetings are held at at the James S. Page Governmental Complex
(96135 Nassau Place, Yulee FL 32097)
The public is invited to attend these meetings.
It is advised to confirm the meeting time by calling ahead of time
(904) 491-7422 or inquire via email. http://portoffernandina.org/
^ Do you have knowledge that they'll be discussing future plans at this meeting or was this just a cut and paste from their web site? Because they have been forming a future outlook proposal, but to my knowledge it won't be presented until October/November of this year and won't be placed in budgets until FY2016 ... Or has something changed?
Quote from: JayBird on July 21, 2013, 12:41:20 PM
^ Do you have knowledge that they'll be discussing future plans at this meeting or was this just a cut and paste from their web site? Because they have been forming a future outlook proposal, but to my knowledge it won't be presented until October/November of this year and won't be placed in budgets until FY2016 ... Or has something changed?
Cut and Paste the rest is up to the people who go to the meeting. :)
So my whole take on the port is based on distribution and politics. When you look at sort of the top 5 distribution markets in the country - Inland Empire, Chicago, Dallas, NJ, and Atlanta - it becomes clear why Savannah has pulled ahead (and Charleston as well).
Frankly, JaxPort even benefits from Atlanta's distribution network/infrastructure, but not nearly as much as Savannah or Charleston do, which are ports that almost exclusively serve this massive network and infrastructure. The overall Atlanta real estate market is deemed risky by default, as most sunbelt markets are, but the industrial sector there is always one of the strongest in the country. Companies like to build distribution centers there and real estate developers even like to go spec there because of the strength of the distribution network and the infrastructure in place. The same cannot necessarily be said of Jacksonville, even though Jacksonville's own industrial sector is its strongest real estate sector. Jacksonville may be tops in the state of FL, but is still middle of the pack as a favorable industrial market, and will never compete with Atlanta, either in terms of direct connections to other major population centers or in terms of infrastructure and warehouse space. Atlanta is simply a much larger rail hub (it was literally built on rail) and is within a day's drive of much more population (not to mention the 6 million people within its own region).
And then you factor in political backing - you have a very powerful mayor (the mayor of Atlanta is usually one of the most powerful politicians in the country - and Kasim is quite connected to the Hill and the Obama Admin; it was even thought he would leave the city for the District), and this black Democrat mayor is working side by side with white Republican good ol boy governor to fuel Savannah, because it fuels statewide industry and Atlanta distribution/jobs center.
Contrast with JaxPort...a port in a dysfunctional city with historically poor city and state leadership, and competition with several major metro centers as opposed to one, none the least of which is SoFla - one of the largest population centers in the country with its own two large ports - and you have a port in lil ol NE FL that will always lose out to the competition, even despite the logical benefits of funding increasing infrastructure capacity in Jax and Mile Point/deepening.
Perhaps its time that JaxPort leaders and city leaders find a way to politically align themselves with and tap into the politically advantaged GA port system. Clearly there is no love to be found from the home state of FL, but perhaps there is some sort of advantage that can be found across the border.
While we focus on the numbers associated to improvements at Jax Port I think there is something much more important here that is not getting near the attention that it should. Our waterways in Jacksonville are one of the most important and visible assets our community has. Beyond what is visible however is the underlying reality that we human beings are often shortsighted when it comes to our material wants and how going after those wants can have a devastating impact on the St. John's river and all of the life it supports. Please read the following piece from the St.John's Riverkeeper. We must proceed with wisdom and a deeper understanding of what dredging can actually do to our environment and by extension how it can harm our community for years to come. Please click link to view the complete article.
http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/blog/obama-port-initiative-threatens-st-johns/
Quote
The "We Can't Wait Initiative" shortchanges the harbor deepening study and our river.
Lisa Rinaman, St. Johns Riverkeeper: "We can wait. We can't afford to shortchange the evaluation process. By doing so, we are potentially jeopardizing the health of our region's most valuable economic and ecological asset, the St. Johns River, based on incomplete studies and speculative job projections."
On July 19, 2012, President Obama issued the "We Can't Wait Initiative," expediting the study of the proposed St. Johns River Harbor Deepening Project. This decision dramatically reduced the study schedule by 14 months, potentially jeopardizing the integrity of the analysis by providing the Army Corps of Engineers with insufficient time to thoroughly evaluate this complex issue
I don't believe the salinity study has been released yet. The official one from the Army Corps of Engineers, regardless, how many unemployed people will stand up and fight for the manatees? But I agree with Simms3, why fight Brunswick and Savannah, when you can combine and form a partnership to work together to combat Miami/FtL and Tampa? Yeah sure Rick Scott, all 14 ports in Florida benefit from working together. Yeah right!
JaxPort is a great port for aggregate materials, building supplies as well as rock and asphalt. Why not continue to work to build our port as an area for these materials? The housing boom will return, and we have an infrastructure that is in dire need of fixing and replacement. Why not use our lands, like Keystone Coal is doing in shipping out coal from their terminal? Fla Rock/Vulcan Materials is still a major player in road materials in Jax. I see tremendous opportunity, yeah, not as sexy as containers, but still a great option for Jax. I agree, you need partners in growth, we should look to work with them, instead of trying to beat their brains out.
The numbers have changed to the tune of 27.5 million dollars from the state.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-09-25/story/jaxport-get-275-million-state-funds-port-improvements
QuoteBy Drew Dixon
Florida ports will get $150 million in bond proceeds from the state in the next fiscal year and $27.5 million of that will be coming to JaxPort.
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet approved the funding for the state's ports through the Seaport Investment Program.
While $150 million will fund port projects statewide in the next year, $27.5 million is specifically earmarked for Jacksonville's port facilities. JaxPort spokeswoman Nancy Rubin said $14.8 million of that money will be used for improvements at the Blount Island Marine Terminal. The remaining money will be used for maintenance and upgrades at the Talleyrand Marine Terminal downtown.
"We need to take aging infrastructure and make it useful heading into the future," Rubin said. "These projects are to upgrade and revitalize aging docks, rail lines that need upgrading. These waterside facilities, think about what they go through the course of the day."
Rubin said the maintenance and upgrades will not only serve current customers, but will better prepare the facilities to handle future cargo customers, such as those that could come if the St. Johns River shipping channels are deepened or the Mile Point section of the river is fixed.
The state money approved by Scott for Florida port funding is not directly linked to current Congressional consideration of federal authorization or the other major issues facing Jacksonville's maritime interests.
In the House, a draft bill would authorize projects whose federal studies are completed by the end of 2013 only. That would include fixing tricky navigational currents in the Mile Point portion of the St. Johns River, just west of the mouth of the waterway near the Atlantic Ocean.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to finish its study of deepening Jacksonville's harbor from its current depth of 40 feet to 47 feet next April, which would fall outside the cut-off date in the currently worded House bill.
Still, the state funding granted this week for upgrades at JaxPort facilities is more than welcome news for port officials.
"Florida's leaders understand the value of building port infrastructure today and the returns that will come in the form of jobs and economic opportunity," JaxPort CEO Brian Taylor said.
Jacksonville's Economic Development Director Ted Carter said the state money will make JaxPort more attractive to potential shippers considering harboring here.
"The investment from the state means improvements that will make Jacksonville and our port even more appealing for current and new businesses and industrial tenants," Carter said in a news release Wednesday.
Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-09-25/story/jaxport-get-275-million-state-funds-port-improvements#ixzz2g2Siu2xL