Port ready to land major deal

[thelakelander]

It could make Jacksonville a top shipping destination

By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union

The Jacksonville Port Authority plans to ink a deal next week with a major shipping line who wants to build a massive port facility along the St. Johns River, people familiar with the negotiations said Thursday.

Combined with the terminal now being built at Dames Point, such a project could push Jacksonville into the top tier of Eastern ports, creating thousands of jobs and transforming the city's role in the global supply chain.

Port officials refused to discuss details of the deal, citing concerns that premature disclosure of the shipping line's name could jeopardize negotiations.

Three people familiar with negotiations, though, say that Executive Director Rick Ferrin plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a steamship company while on a trip to Asia next week.

Ferrin and a passel of other port officials, as well as Mayor John Peyton, will be in Japan for a meeting of the Japan-U.S. Southeast Association, an organization headed by Jacksonville businessman Tom Petway.

Negotiations over the detailed memorandum have been going on for months as the company and the port hammered out specifics. Signing is not certain, noted one person familiar with the process, although there appears to be no major disagreements still outstanding. Also, an actual contract - which the memo sets the stage for - would need to be agreed to before work on the project began.

Port officials say the facility would bring to Jacksonville a volume of business similar to what's expected from Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. When that shipping line, whose terminal is under construction at Dames Point, opens at the end of 2008, it will establish the first major direct connection between the First Coast and Asia.

Once it ramps up, that terminal is expect to handle the equivalent of 400,000 to 800,000 20-foot-long containers each year. Two terminals of that size, combined with the 768,239 containers the port handled last year, would make Jacksonville the second or third largest port on the East Coast.

"It's going to put us on the map," said Daniel Teague, vice president of International Longshoreman's Association Clerks and Checkers Local 1593. Longshoreman with that union handle the paperwork associated with shipments.

"It's going to double the size of [the Port of] Jacksonville. We have been anticipating something of this nature."

Both that union and International Longshoremen's Association Local 1408, whose workers actually load and unload ships, have ramped up training programs in the past two years, aiming to have trained workers available as deals are announced.

Like the Mitsui terminal, a new facility would create about 5,000 jobs in the area, including 1,800 jobs directly at the port, plus up to another 3,800 in related industries, such as trucking, welding supply jobs and more.

Several hurdles would, however, have to be dealt with before a terminal - expected to be about 170 acres - could rise from the ground. Chief among them: acquisition of the property for such a project.

The port authority has been negotiating with a handful of landowners for the past year for several large tracts of land, but has not yet struck a deal with any of them. Among the possibilities is a 100-acre tract owned by the U.S. Navy that the port has suggested leasing, and a 120-acre parcel owned by Zion Jacksonville Limited Partnership.

Since port officials would not discuss details of the deal, it's unclear how long building a terminal would take once land is acquired. The Mitsui terminal, however, will open up about 31/2 years after that deal was announced.

Mitsui's arrival in Jacksonville was expected to stimulate more interest in the area by large shipping lines, who have been eyeing East Coast ports as the megaports on the West Coast grow increasingly congested. A number of larger players have expressed interest in the port over the past 18 months, with both South Korean company Hanjin Shipping and Japanese company NYK Lines sending the authority letters indicating they would like to set up shop in Jacksonville if space was available.

timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com

(904) 359-4103

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101207/met_207497280.shtml

[Ocklawaha]

This could drop kick us right through the up-rights! YES!

Ocklawaha

[Jason]

Very exciting news.  Kudos to all involved in making these deals happen.

Looks like its time to get busy deepening and widening the channel, as well as building up the rail support.

[Jason]

Looks like its a deal!

Last modified 10/18/2007 - 5:30 am
Originally created 101807


Shipper, port strike major deal

South Korean steamship line plans $360 million container terminal.


By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union


The Jacksonville Port Authority signed a deal early today that paves the way for a second Asian steamship line to set up shop in Jacksonville.

South Korean company Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. agreed to a memorandum of understanding in Seoul about 5 p.m. local time (4 a.m. in Jacksonville). The agreement - signed by the company, the Port Authority and the mayor - takes the first step toward developing a $360 million container terminal in Jacksonville.

"Today's agreement with Hanjin underscores Jacksonville's new role in global trade," Rick Ferrin, executive director of the Port Authority, said in a statement about the deal. "With this historic signing, not one but two major players in the international shipping arena have given notice in a big way that Jaxport is the place to be."

Jacksonville broke into the ranks of major ports when it signed a deal in 2005 with Japanese steamship line Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., which plans to open its East Coast hub at the end of 2008.

Hanjin sees Jacksonville in a similar light: Its 170-acre terminal, slated to open in 2011, would be the Korean company's first operation on the East Coast, joining facilities it has in Long Beach and Oakland, Calif., and Seattle. It would have the capacity to handle the equivalent of 1 million 20-foot-long cargo containers, or 7.5 million tons of cargo, a year.

At full capacity, that would be slightly larger throughput than the terminal being built at Dames Point for Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd, which could handle about 800,000 20-foot-containers a year when it's fully built. Combined with the 768,239 containers the port handled in 2006, both terminals operating at full capacity would make Jacksonville the fourth-largest port in the nation.

The memo does not state where the terminal would be located, but the port has been trying to buy riverfront land for over a year. Among the most likely sites is a plot of land along Heckscher Drive owned by Zion Jacksonville Limited Partnership for which the port has been intensely - and so far unsuccessfully - negotiating.

Port officials have been saying that another Asian steamship line was on the way since mid-2005, when it struck a deal with Mitsui, achieving the authority's long-held goal to set up container trade between the First Coast and Asia.

Historically, Jacksonville's maritime trade has looked south, to Latin America and the Caribbean, with Asian trade largely confined to the imported autos that glimmer in rows at Blount Island. Asian container trade, though, has a much more significant economic impact, with the large metal boxes filled with Chinese goods spinning off thousands of jobs.

Attracting Mitsui's attention made it likely that other companies would be on their way as well, port officials said.

Hanjin went on the record with its interest more than a year ago. In a letter to the Port Authority marketing department, the company said "over the past years we have come to learn of Jacksonville's importance and strategic location in the South Atlantic." Ultimately, the letter said, the company would want to operate a 150-acre to 200-acre terminal.

The Korean company is that country's largest carrier, moving more than 100 million tons of cargo annually all over the world. It also brings with it the strength of an alliance with a Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese and German steamship line, the largest alliance of that type in the industry.

Over the past several years, the East Coast has become a more inviting place for steamship lines to call, with interest initially piqued by a strike by longshoremen on the West Coast five years ago. Now, a jump in the cost of land-based transportation and demand from big-box retailers who have established distribution centers up and down the Eastern Seaboard has turned that interest into action.

timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com

(904) 359-4103

Source: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101807/bus_209466352.shtml

[02roadking]

Nice photo op Mr. Mayor.