by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Jaxport’s earnings lived up to expectations last year. According to the port authority’s annual financial report released earlier this week, new business ranging from Chryslers to cruise ships netted the port about $23 million.
According to a letter from the chairman and executive director, Jaxport earned a record $31 million in fiscal year 2003, while reducing operating expenses to $17.3 million. The port spent 15 percent less than 2002. The rest of the port’s earnings came from state–and–federally–funded capital improvement projects.
Port spokesperson Robert Peek said an aggressive marketing campaign and diversified trade contributed to Jaxport’s success. The port added new imports like wood pulp and new exports, including about a quarter million tons of military equipment.
Peek also credited strong consumer demand for Chrysler’s new Crossfire car with helping boost the port’s vehicle shipping by 11 percent. Peek compared Jaxport’s diversity to a well-managed stock portfolio, allowing the facility to improve earnings while mitigating losses.
“Some ports don’t move much cargo when people aren’t buying cars,” said Peek. “We’ve had more of a mindset to go after what had been non-traditional cargoes, an it’s really paid off. It allows our port to take advantage of all the opportunities of the market instead of sitting on the sidelines.”
Jaxport’s total tonnage shipped grew three percent to 7.3 million tons. T. Martin Fiorentino, the port’s chairman of the board, told stakeholders that the port recorded gains in all major cargo types.
The fiscal year brought new paper imports from Finland and new car shipments from Germany. The port increased its outgoing product as well. In addition to new routes to the Caribbean and South America, Jaxport loaded 44 military vessels carrying equipment to the Middle East. Jacksonville was the second busiest port in the nation for moving military cargo to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Peek said the port’s value to Jacksonville went beyond its own ledger sheet. More important, he said, was the port’s function as a revenue generator for Jacksonville and Northeast Florida.
The City and State subsidize the port’s operation to spur economic activity in a variety of sectors. In addition to daily workers who draw their paycheck directly from working at the port’s three cargo-handling facilities and passenger cruise terminal, thousands of truck drivers, ship hands, maintenance workers among others owe their employment to the port. The financial report estimates that Jaxport’s facilities support more than 45,000 jobs in the Jacksonville area and create an economic impact of more than $1.3 billion annually for the region.
To that end, the addition of two passenger cruise lines to Jaxport’s portfolio helped boost the port’s financial and jobs impact. Fiorentino cited a study showing the cruise lines would create 700 new jobs in the area and generate more than $36 million for the local economy.
Jaxport projects more than 150,000 cruise ship passengers will cruise through Jacksonville annually. A Northeast Florida Regional Council study projected many of those passengers would take up rooms in area hotels, eat meals in Jacksonville restaurants and otherwise pump tourist dollars into the local economy.
Also among the port’s highlights, according to the report: