Staff Writer
Board discusses future of St. Johns River ferry
Both good news and bad news was presented to the Jacksonville Port Authority Board of Directors at its monthly meeting Monday.
The Port Authority has been working to make the shipping lanes serving Jacksonville capable of allowing newer, larger ships to port at its docks.
The good news for the Port Authority’s Board was that its harbor-deepening project is planned to be completed by July 2, ahead of its Sept. 30 contracted completion date. The project lowered the St. Johns River to a depth of 40 feet from the mouth of the river to the Talleyrand terminal.
“This is, frankly, a big milestone,” said Chris Kauffman, Chief Operating Officer for the Port Authority. “It’s a project that saw its start in 1997-98 and is finally seeing its completion.”
The bad news was that while one project was ahead of schedule, another has bogged down at the starting gate.
The Mile Point project addresses the limited time that the larger Post-Panamax ships have to navigate into Jacksonville’s ports because of unique current flows in the shipping lanes.
Ships trying to port in Jacksonville have to navigate a section of river where the St. Johns collides with the Intracoastal Waterway. The St. Johns flows north and the Intracoastal Waterway flows south, creating a whirlpool effect, which causes some ships to spin depending on the level of the tide.
The project proposes building two underwater levees, or training walls, which would reduce the turbulence of the tide.
“I think some of our customers have indicated that ships could go elsewhere that could have come to Jacksonville because of the restriction,” said David Kulik, chair of the Port Authority board. “This is a real and present threat for all of us.”
Executive Director Rick Ferrin will pursue approval for the project and, subsequently, funding for the project in Washington, D.C., for completion by 2013.
The Port Authority doesn’t want to still be seeking a way to make the St. Johns River Ferry a profitable business, but it just might be. The City subsidizes the operation of the ferry, which links State Road A1A between Mayport Village and Fort George Island, with about $500,000 annually.
“It was costing the City about a million dollars until we took it over in 2007,” said Michael Poole, chief financial officer for the Port Authority. “We are doing a little better, but I don’t think it will ever be profitable on its own.”
City Council member Daniel Davis, the council’s liaison to the Port Authority, was interested in discussing the future of the ferry.
“I don’t know when the best time to put it on the table, but I think there really is an issue here,” said Davis.
“I think there were times when we were able to subsidize certain services to the community and there are other times when you should evaluate where you should be. I know the usage has been declining, so I think that we have to start evaluating that, Mr. Chairman,” said Davis
Ferrin said a reduction of the population at Naval Station Mayport and the efficiency of the Wonderwood Expressway are reasons the service has been underutilized lately. He didn’t see a ridership increase in the future and wasn’t sure how the home-porting of a nuclear aircraft carrier at Naval Station Mayport would affect ridership.
356-2466