Jacksonville port close on key expansion contracts

Jacksonville port close on key expansion contracts The Jacksonville Port Authority is about to award a contract for construction of the new container terminal at Dames Point, and is close to signing a contract for the purchase of 185 acres northwest of Dames Point that would be developed into yet another major container terminal    Executive Director Rick Ferrin said Thursday.
   The contract to build the Dames Point terminal, that would be operated by Trans Pacific Container Service Corp. (TraPac), was expected to be awarded either today or early next week. Ferrin said 'horizontal,' or roadways and ground-level construction, should be in full swing within the next 30 to 45 days. 'Vertical' construction, or putting up buildings, should be underway within 60 days.
   TraPac is owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, the Japan-based steamship line.
   Meanwhile, Ferrin said the port authority is ready to sign a contract for the purchase of 185 acres northwest of Dames Point that would likely be developed as another major container terminal for a carrier in the transpacific trades from Asia.
   The property is part of a large parcel owned by Abraham Zion, a major real estate developer involved in projects around the United States. The port would buy the land along the shipping channel for use as a terminal, and the rest of the property would probably be developed for use by industry-related services such as warehouse companies, consolidators, or distribution centers. (see map)
   Ferrin said the port is already in discussions with several steamship lines about the use of the site. Most are from Asia, he said, adding the new site would be similar in scope to the TraPac/MOL terminal, which is expected to handle 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containerized cargo when it is fully operational. That project is expected to be done by the end of 2008.
   The MOL terminal would double the throughput at Jacksonville. With the addition of another terminal, possibly used by one of the large carrier consortiums in the transpacific trades, the port could see another sharp increase in volumes within three to four years.
   Ferrin said the new terminal would lead to a fundamental change for the Jacksonville port market. About 90 percent of the port's current container business is in the north/south trades, with only 10 percent coming from the east/west intercontinental trades. When the MOL facility is fully operational, that would shift to about 35 percent of the port's container business coming from the east/west trades. With the addition of another major terminal for an Asian carrier, that would become 65 percent east/west.
   Ferrin said the port would continue to have its current Puerto Rico and roll-on/roll-off business, even growing those markets, but the port would became a major gateway for Asian cargo for the Southeast.
   'This would propel us into the elite level of top tier ports in the country,' he said.
   Ferrin said that once the contract for the Zion property is signed, it would probably be 60 days to 90 days before final closing.