After more than decade of work, Jaxport officially has deeper shipping channel (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — When Eric Green was hired by the Jacksonville Port Authority in 2005, it was as director of government affairs. One of his main tasks: get the city, state and federal governments to provide funding for a deeper St. Johns River shipping channel.
More than a decade later — and with millions in government money invested into the project — Green is now port authority CEO, presiding Monday over the official unveiling of a 47-foot-deep shipping channel.
Getting to the pierside event required traveling a long and winding road, with fights over funding and authorization spanning the tenure of four Jaxport executive directors and multiple Jaxport board members, many of whom were in attendance.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said former board member Dick Morales, who served during the early part of the push to get the project done.
The deeper water is a key part of Jaxport’s ability to service larger ships, which have become standard in the industry. The deeper and, in some places, wider shipping channel means that two post-Panamax ships can traverse the shipping channel at the same time.
Work on the project, which began in April 2018, was budgeted at $484 million, with funding coming from the federal government, the state of Florida, JaxPort, and port tenant SSA Jacksonville, according to JaxPort. It’s unclear what the final price tag is, although information provided Monday indicated that $419 million has been spent so far.
As much as Monday’s event was the celebration of a completion, it was also the start of additional work that needs to be done.
“This is actually just the beginning. Now we have to go out and sell the port, we have to make sure people know we’re here, we have to continue to tout our efficiencies,” Green said. “This is the beginning, but it’s definitely a happy day.”
One of the bigger tasks: Raising the power lines that stretch above the St. Johns River, which the port has says pose a navigational hindrance. Jaxport and JEA, which owns the lines, have been discussing how the $40-million-plus project will be funded, with another meeting scheduled between Green and JEA CEO Jay Stowe on June 2.
The port has ideas for where the money could come, Green said, but it would be “presumptuous” to go into details while discussions are ongoing.
Having the deeper water and the cargo it attracts could be felt across the local economy.
“People are going to come here because people want to work,” said George Spencer, president of International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1408. “People want to better their financial conditions. And this is just going to be so great for us. We just can’t stop smiling about it.”
It will also have real estate implications.
“It’s potentially huge,” said Cushman & Wakefield Managing Director Tyler Newman, who specializes in industrial real estate.
Growth at the ports of Savanah and Charleston have lead to booming warehouse markets in those cities, with CoStar ranking Savannah as No. 1 in the country for total new industrial construction underway as a percentage of total inventory.
While Jacksonville won’t unseat that port city, Jacksonville’s workforce and highway infrastructure — and now deeper water — puts it in a good position to compete, Newman said.
That competition isn’t just for cargo, said Aundra Wallace, president of JaxUSA Partnership, the economic development arm of the JaxChamber
“It gives us another opportunity to compete against other regions to bring jobs,” he said, including in advanced manufacturing.
Now, with the long-sought goal of deeper water having been reached, the focus turns to capitalizing on it.
Last week, Green said, he was in New York, meeting with shipping lines, trying to lure their vessels here.
“They’re very excited about what’s going on in Jacksonville,” he said. “They see the efficiencies, they see the needs. We’re not trying to be a Savannah. What we’re trying to do is be the best port in this region, and Northeast Florida and in Florida.”
Photo courtesy of Sean Burgess