After being spurned by JAXPORT, Gulftainer found another Florida port to play with....
QuotePort Canaveral's new cargo era is underway.
The port and a unit of a United Arab Emirates-based company signed a 35-year deal Monday for the company to operate a cargo terminal at the port.
Port officials say the deal with privately owned Gulftainer and its new U.S. unit, GT USA, would create 2,000 direct and spinoff jobs when fully operational, including 500 at the port itself. They said Gulftainer plans to make a $100 million investment locally in infrastructure, equipment and staff.
full article: http://www.floridatoday.com/story/money/companies/2014/06/23/gulftainer-port-canaveral-cargo-uae/11261849/
QuoteIn 2012, Gulftainer suggested investing $250 million in a facility in Jacksonville, which then- Jacksonville Port Authority CEO Paul Anderson turned down, saying it did not meet the port's requirements.
Gulftainer proposed leasing about 100 acres on Blount Island to build a container terminal. Company executives said the company would help harbor deepening costs, with no outside financial help.
Being rejected, Gulftainer said at the time, "shocked and confused" it.
QuoteIn addition, the company will be one piece of a larger plan that includes spending $65 million to purchase Florida East Coast Rail tracks near NASA to transport cargo into Central Florida and out of the state.
full article: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/06/23/gulftainer-named-port-canaveral-s-big-cargo.html
QuoteIn 2012, Gulftainer suggested investing $250 million in a facility in Jacksonville, which then- Jacksonville Port Authority CEO Paul Anderson turned down, saying it did not meet the port's requirements.
What's truly odd, and it begs the question that there was perhaps some other ulterior motive, was that at the time Anderson said that Gulftainer would have required that some tenants be moved from Blount Island to Talleyrand and that JAXPORT needed to complete a comprehensive plan before it could let Gulftainer know whether it would fit in their plans.
That master plan in fact suggested that some of Blount Island's existing tenants be moved to Talleyrand.
There is a lot more to the story... wonder if we'll ever know all the details.
Had to see this one coming!
QuoteIn addition, the company will be one piece of a larger plan that includes spending $65 million to purchase Florida East Coast Rail tracks near NASA to transport cargo into Central Florida and out of the state.
Hmmm. How are they planning to transport cargo into Central Florida via rail? I wonder if that proposed AAF Beach Line extension will have anything to do with this?
Quote from: thelakelander on June 23, 2014, 11:08:45 PM
QuoteIn addition, the company will be one piece of a larger plan that includes spending $65 million to purchase Florida East Coast Rail tracks near NASA to transport cargo into Central Florida and out of the state.
Hmmm. How are they planning to transport cargo into Central Florida via rail? I wonder if that proposed AAF Beach Line extension will have anything to do with this?
Those tracks that go into the NASA facility end pretty far north of the Port so they'd have to build a significant extension. They also don't appear to cross the Banana River (or whatever that river is called). Be interesting to see the specifics fo their plan for rail.
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/CRITICAL%20Maps/ScreenShot2014-06-24at93527AM_zps19d63302.png)
Exactly as the crystal ball forecast, the AAF project as we've said all along has more to do with this then anybody is willing to share right now. Loose lips sink ships! The FEC is returning to the east side of Orlando, for the first time since WWII, and if it takes lovely new passenger trains and a failed HSR plan to make it happen, then so be it.
The saddest part of this is it appears once again that Jacksonville had a really big fish jump right in the boat with us and we threw it back out. Time will tell if this was wise or another case of a 'developmentally challenged,' city.
From what I understand, there is an agreement that the new tracks being built adjacent to the Beachline Expressway can be used for freight....but that freight trains will have to divert off somewhere around the Greeneway (Orlando beltway)
That makes sense, considering the OUC spur that connects to the old CSX A line (Sunrail corridor) is just east of the GreeneWay. Brilliant move by FECI. AAF basically gets them freight access to a rapidly growing region that already has more than 7 million residents. Much more profitable than passenger rail.
Looking at the big picture, this could also play into the long-standing idea to reroute all freight (except local switching) around Orlando. The old Sanford and Everglades, Florida East Coast, East Florida and Atlantic, Seaboard and Atlantic Coast Line routes along the east side skirting Sanford-Beck Hammock-Oviedo-Chulouta-Chuluota-Holopaw can still offer a choice of preserved or mostly preserved right-of-way. Tie this to the OUC line, connect that to FEC and your in the Orlando Market like never before.
I'd watch the efforts of Volusia to push for a direct link to Sanford and Sunrail, as this could play into the freight plan too. Until the mid 1970's the FEC had track from New Smyrna and Titusville to Maytown and west to 'Benson Junction'... a few hundred yards south of Benson Junction is what Sunrail is calling the Debary station. Using this right-of-way from Volusia around to about Osteen, then jumping the river would link up with the old East Side lines.
Oh and that Banana River bridge? Did you know that you can WALK across the Banana River, except for a narrow 8' deep barge canal cut down the center. The whole thing is a sea of oyster bars and shoals. Crossing it might look daunting but it should be a piece of cake.