(Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) SSA Marine’s commitment to the Port of Jacksonville was strengthened Monday when the Jaxport Board of Directors unanimously approved a contract to construct 90 acres of port property to build the SSA International Container Terminal at Blount Island.
The $70.9 million project is a public-private partnership between the port and the Seattle-based company.
Jaxport applied for, and won, a $20 million grant from the U.S. Maritime Administration in 2019. SSA will be responsible for the remaining $50.9 million, as well as any cost overruns.
Construction on the eight-phase expansion is slated to begin this summer and be completed in 2024. Advertisements for a general contractor and construction manager will be sent in April. The contract will be awarded in July with the expectation that a contractor is given the notice to proceed in August.
The project includes information technology improvements, new refrigerated container outlets, underground utility repairs and more. Jaxport will send invitations to bid on the project.
An indication of the impact the grant may have on the port, and on SSA, was that SSA President Mark Knudsen and Ari Steinberg, SSA’s Vice President of Project Engineering and Implementation, joined Monday’s meeting on video conference from Seattle.
“This grant is a huge help,” Knudsen said. “There’s a lot of investment to be made to make this terminal come together. We really appreciate the opportunity to take advantage of the federal grant. …We also want to point out the work that the Jacksonville team has been doing on developing the warehouse capacity and developing other mechanisms to bring cargo into the port.”
The expanded facility will be a six-crane terminal on 93 acres of property. It has the option to expand to 120 acres as space becomes available. Steinberg said the project has the ability to transform the terminal. He added it will be completed while the port is operating.
The first phase of the project is expected to be completed this year.
The board was ecstatic about the partnership. Once Secretary Daniel Bean was satisfied that SSA will be responsible for overseeing the project and will submit confirmation of its compliance with federal guidelines to JAXPORT, he enthusiastically praised the agreement stating: “This is a great project, and they are a great partner.”
Bean was not the only person effusive in his praise.
“The state of Florida, the City of Jacksonville, SSA and the federal government are now partners in this great expansion,” board treasurer J. Palmer Clarkson said. “These guys are as good of partners as you can have. They invest their own money. They have great engineering and they have a great business. We should all be thrilled with this partnership.”
Photo Courtesy of JAXPORT