QuoteSouth African company cites port's stability and growth in its selection of the city.
By LIZ FLAISIG, The Times-Union
The expansion of two foreign shipping lines and annual growth at Jacksonville's port has persuaded a South African company to build a facility on the Northside.
Big Lift Trucks will open a 33,000-square-foot warehouse and 3 acres of container storage on Camden Road, off Eastport Road and Florida 9A near Blount Island.
The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce announced the business's plans Wednesday.
The company will handle full and empty container storage and container packing and unpacking of materials such as timber, steel and granite.
BLT also refurbishes heavy forklifts and other container equipment.
The decision to open its U.S. headquarters in Jacksonville hinged on factors related to the port's ongoing stability and growth, said Ryan Mouritzen, vice president of BLT.
Existing shipping links to Africa will allow the company to export large machinery for maintenance to its Durban, South Africa, location.
And the expansion of Japanese shipper Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Korean shipper Hanjin will help the company grow its import and export services, Mouritzen said.
BLT spent $5 million on its new site and equipment. It will hire five to 10 employees by its June 19 opening.
Mouritzen said another five employees will be hired in the next year as the economic decline improves, bringing the workforce to 15.
Jobs will average $43,475 annually.
BLT is an example of the new ancillary business spurred by Mitsui and Hanjin, said Mike Breen, director of international development for Cornerstone, the economic development arm of the chamber.
"This is an example that the international community is taking Jacksonville seriously now," Breen said.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/052908/bus_283847496.shtml
Does this mean we're going to have a skyline that resembles this...from all the containers that don't get reshipped because it costs more to reuse them than it does to build new ones??
(http://thenextwavefutures.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/shipping_containers.jpg)
My husband and I actually researched living in shipping containers. You can do some amazing things with them...much like legos for adults you just stack them right on top of one another. I've even seen them made into swimming pools.
(http://www.buildinggreentv.com/files/u5/container_house.jpg)
(http://www.grassrootsmodern.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/_albums_i207_modernlover62_ALBUM-2_ALBUM-3_5-9.jpg)
(http://www.fabprefab.com/imagesource/CharlstonContainers-600W.jpg)
I've seen the second image in person. Its in Atlanta, not too far from Auburn Avenue and MARTA's King Memorial Station. Is the house in the last image a shipping container?
One issue you'll run into in Jacksonville, is that many of the urban neighborhoods are historic districts, meaning you're design would most likely get shot down from the start.
I love to hear companies stating that the ports expansion is bringing them hear. You knew it would happen but I think it just makes it more than theory when it starts happening.
Lake, yup the last image is made from shipping containers. It's located in a historic district in Charleston, SC. It replaced a shot-gun house that was beyond repair.
Under Construction
(http://www.sgblocks.com/images/DSC00019.jpg)
Here's one under construction in Fort Bragg...
(http://jetsongreen.typepad.com/jetson_green/images/2007/09/11/bragg_9607_001_alt.jpg)
Here's one at a construction conference..
(http://www.buildinggreentv.com/files/images/Box_ext_8.preview.JPG)
So, you can see that they can be used to make housing that would fit in with historical areas. It would look crazy during the construction phase, but once complete the average person would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between this and wood-frame housing.
Do you have any info on the cost difference between using shipping containers and traditional residential construction?
Quote from: thelakelander on May 29, 2008, 10:56:11 AM
Do you have any info on the cost difference between using shipping containers and traditional residential construction?
So glad you asked. I don't know about contracting someone to actually put it together, but a 40'L x 9'6"W x 9'H container can be purchased used, right here in Jax (http://www.containersnow.com/ (http://www.containersnow.com/)) for $2400. All ISO shipping containers are virtually hurricane proof (being that they were made to withstand those conditions at sea traveling thousands of miles across the ocean), and are perfectly square, built to exact measurements so you will never have the human-error issues you have with wood-frame, site-built homes in things not coming together accurately.
If you were to purchase 4 of these containers, the cost for materials (containers alone, keeping in mind they are already built so constunction would only be for the containers to be welded, the purchase of land, windows to be created, plumbing, insulation, electrical...you get the jist) would be around $10k for a 1440 sq ft home, at under $10 a sq ft. Compare that to a wood-frame home of the same cost which would equate to around $93 a sq ft (average new-construction home price in Jax).
The cost of full construction is actually very comparable to that of pre-fab manufactured housing, which we know can not withstand anything that an ISO container could.
This company specializes in shipping container housing and could provide more detailed information about total cost of construction...
http://www.sgblocks.com/ (http://www.sgblocks.com/)
Man, what a neat idea. I bet a house made of those things would be bullet proof!
These Asian terminal deals are really causing waves in the Jax economy. I can't wait to see what else will come of this.
What a great idea. The possibilities are endless.