by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“Through a combination of good luck and good planning, Jacksonville is defying gravity when it comes to job growth and the economy,” said Mayor John Peyton during Thursday’s 2008 Global Trade & Transportation Symposium. “It is clear international business is part of Jacksonville today and it will only increase if we continue to invest.”
Peyton said the Port is the key to continued economic growth and pointed out that it has generated record-setting revenues for seven consecutive years. It also provides jobs and is an important economic driver for the city.
“JAXPORT supports 50,000 jobs with a $3 billion annual economic impact,” he said. “The Port can take us to a more prosperous community and no matter how the economy changes, the Port has the capacity and diversity to weather those changes.”
This marks the third consecutive year the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization (North Florida TPO) has set aside a day to gather regional business people and experts on the fields of infrastructure, transportation and strategic initiatives to explore ways local businesses can capitalize on Jacksonville’s emergence as an international trade center.
Topics during the all-day event included growing businesses globally, import and export concepts, preparing a workforce for global opportunities and the basics of international trade finance.
Keynote speaker Jeff Keever, deputy executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, shared the Hampton Roads and Norfolk, Virginia ports’ stories.
Keever was invited to speak at this year’s event because of his firsthand experience and knowledge of a growing port system.
“Eight years ago, Virginia’s ports are where Jacksonville is today in terms of growth opportunity and infrastructure,” said Lad Daniels, past president of North Florida TPO and this year’s moderator.
“With growth come significant challenges,” said Keever, who also addressed the current economic issues facing Wall Street and the credit markets.
“This is not the time to shy away from investing in the future. International trade will continue to move forward,” he said.
Jacksonville and Virginia’s ports share similarities such as proximity to major U.S. Navy bases; excellent access to rail lines; and challenges related to roads near port facilities.
“Our port is surrounded by tunnels and an older highway system. Even though trucks represent only a small percentage of total traffic, the Norfolk City Council considered banning all truck traffic from major highways,” said Keever. Eventually, he said, a solution was reached that restricted truck traffic several hours each day. Much of the cargo traffic was rerouted to other roads less traveled by commuters, but the $1 million in additional fuel cost for the Port Authority trucks was too much, said Keever.
He predicted 50 percent of containers that enter Virginia’s ports will head for their final destination via rail by 2017 and the amount of cargo moved on barges will also increase over time.
“That gets the containers off the Interstate Highway system and reduces the number of trucks and emissions,” said Keever.
Two critical components Jacksonville must focus on to handle the projected cargo-handling growth that will come in the future are planning for additional and improved access to rail lines and development of a regional industrial land use plan for intermodal distribution.
“Intermodal” is when a container switches from one mode of transportation to another, for instance from a double-stacked rail car to a truck.
The Virginia Port Authority is developing a new rail route from Hampton Roads and Norfolk to Chicago that includes three intermodal terminals along the way. The $309 million project is a partnership with West Virginia and Ohio and is being partially funded with federal grants to all three states.
Keever also said the Virginia Port Authority has had great success securing private investment for the development of distribution facilities by working with the Commonwealth’s various economic development agencies.
“The younger generation is being called ‘the globals’. Fifty-six percent of people 18-29 years of age have passports and 26 percent of them expect to work outside the United States at some point in their career,” said Daniels, citing results of a current lifestyle survey. “The world is changing on us. The North Florida Transportation Planning Organization is involved here today because the future of Jacksonville is in intermodal transportation. (North Florida)TPO can leverage state and federal funds to improve infrastructure but we all need to get involved.”
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