Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) CEO Eric Green said there is significant progress on the port’s strategic plan for 2020-2025.
Green provided updates on JAXPORT’s infrastructure projects, business opportunities, and supply chain trends impacting Northeast Florida’s maritime industry to a crowd of nearly 400 transportation and logistics professionals.
Specifically, JAXPORT’s five-year Strategic Master Plan serves as the port’s roadmap to success, outlining strategic growth across trade lanes and cargo types.
In addition, key components of the plan include the addition of new container services with Asia and Europe, as well as building on the port’s role as one of the country’s top vehicle-handling ports and a global leader in the movement of breakbulk (non-containerised) cargo.
The plan also outlines strategies to maintain efficiencies as cargo volumes grow through the completion of multi-year projects. Some of these projects are the recently completed harbor deepening project and ongoing terminal modernisation initiatives that position Jacksonville and the State of Florida for growth in the coming decades.
Meanwhile, highlights from the past year include securing a series of multi-million-dollar public-private partnerships, leveraging outside investment to build the port of the future.
Moreover, there is a 20-year agreement with Ceres Terminals to lease and modernise the port’s Dames Point Marine Terminal. Also, new eco-friendly cargo-handling equipment is added through a US$47 million sustainability initiative funded in partnership with SSA Atlantic, Crowley and a federal BUILD grant.
Finally, four new container services were added in the last 18 months, including expanded connections with Asia and the addition of the port’s first direct container service with Europe.
