Jacksonville terminal gets first ship

Jacksonville terminal gets first ship The new Dames Point terminal in Jacksonville built by MOL’s TraPac affiliate, has worked its first ship.
   The CMA CGM Virginia arrived at about 10 p.m. Monday and working through Tuesday discharged and loaded about 800 containers.
   The ship is deployed in the New World Alliance’s trans-Panama ESX service, which connects the Chinese ports of Ningbo, Shanghai, Chiwan and Hong Kong with Jacksonville, Savannah, Ga., New York, and Norfolk, Va. MOL and the other New World members APL and Hyundai Merchant Marine, as well as CMA CGM, are partners in the East Coast-South China Express service, which has been calling at another Jacksonville terminal since July 2008.

The CMA CGM Virginia is worked at Jacksonville's new Dames Point terminal, built by MOL's TraPac.

   Roy Schleicher, senior director of trade development and global marketing at the Jacksonville Port Authority, said the opening of the new terminal was a milestone — both because of the $300 million that TraPac has spent to build and equip the terminal, and because of the boost it will provide to cargo volumes at Jacksonville.
   “To put $300 million into the local economy here to build and equip a terminal says a lot for the confidence that MOL and its operating arm TraPac have in the area,” he said.
   MOL has indicated it plans is “to make Jacksonville a hub port for the Southeast” and that should result in cargo migrating to Jacksonville and neighboring ports, he said.
   While the weakened economy may slow growth, he said initial projections were that 300,000 containers may be flowing through the terminal in three years and 500,000 containers in five years. Other New World Alliance services are expected to begin calling at the terminal, and he noted that TraPac is actively marketing the terminal to third parties.
   The 158-acre terminal employs about 80 longshoremen and about 10 staff.