by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
As the Jacksonville Port Authority continues its efforts to stay competitive, currently working to deepen the harbor to accommodate bigger ships that will soon be coming through an expanded Panama Canal, it learned of another way it could attract cargo customers.
The authority’s board of directors held its monthly meeting Monday and invited CSX representatives to discuss how they could better work together.
Fredrik Eliasson, vice president of emerging markets for CSX, explained how other East Coast ports are investing in intermodal container transfer facilities, which help make the ports more efficient by loading cargo directly from ship to rail and eliminating the need for trucks in the process.
“Through research we identified the top five ports for containerized freight, which are forecasted to see the biggest increases when the widening of the Panama Canal is completed, and they are New York-New Jersey, Norfolk, Va., Charleston, Savannah and Jacksonville,” he said.
“Three of these ports have been able to grow their market share from the beginning of the decade: New York-New Jersey, Savannah and Norfolk. Combined, they have spent about $750 million on very efficient infrastructure between the port and the rail hub in order to attract that cargo,” said Eliasson.
Port Authority Chair David Kulik explained how the cargo is delivered to the rail lines currently.
“The idea was when we got up over one million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, a measure of capacity in container transportation) coming from Hanjin and MOL that we would have to have an alternative to bypass all these trucks going on the highways over to the Westside,” said Kulik. “The Westside is the connector to Norfolk Southern and CSX.”
The involvement of trucks adds to the time and cost to move cargo, Eliasson explained.
Kulik understood and agreed with Eliasson’s point that Jacksonville could lose customers if it doesn’t offer services of other East Coast ports.
“If we don’t do something, then the traffic that would come into Jacksonville could bypass us for Savannah, even though it could be traffic that would be destined for areas that we would serve locally. We have to be careful about where our inaction will force traffic to go,” said Kulik.
The discussions are focused on the port’s Blount Island and Dames Point terminals, said port spokeswoman Nancy Rubin.
To help the port be competitive, CSX has proposed to build a bypass track so its trains wouldn’t have to go through Downtown Jacksonville and could more quickly reach key markets, such as Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis and Louisville.
Eliasson explained that the bypass line could cut up to 12 hours of transit time and minimize the impact on Downtown by rerouting the trains. No timeline has been set to start the project.
“We are committed to the plan we laid out in 2008 in terms of putting $40 million of our capital to help make the infrastructure even more conducive to good service out of this port. We want to engage the port to figure out a way that we can jointly work together to create a plan to grab the funding,” said Eliasson.
Kulik agreed that the two organizatins needed to act quickly to take advantage of available opportunities.
“Here are two homegrown entities and why aren’t we doing more business together? The question will be raised by the mayor asking, ‘what level of investment will be required in order to facilitate a greater level of involvement by the two of you?’” said Kulik.
“The city obviously can’t fund this level that we are talking about. I’m seeking any and all help I can get on this,” said Kulik.
In other business, the board of directors voted to approve both the resolution to allow the port to pursue the establishment of its own police department and to award a sole source contract for the rehabilitation of the St. John River Ferry.
“We recognized through growing through the security process that we would be better able to serve our customers through our own department,” said Chris Kauffmann, chief operating officer and interim executive director for the port.
“We would be able to use these officers to accomplish duties that are not law enforcement-centric and better serve our customers,” he said.
Kauffmann reported that the port would be able to save about $1 million in operational costs through providing its own police.
The rehabilitation of the ferry was awarded on a sole source basis because BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards is the only Jacksonville company that could provide the necessary service and the next closest company with the proper facilities is in Tampa.
The transportation costs to move the ferry to Tampa would make the project cost-prohibitive, said Kauffmann. The award meets the standards of the City’s municipal code as “a “proprietary source,” which, under the procurement code, “shall apply to services, such as follow-up or related studies by the professional originally performing the service, that may only be efficiently and effectively provided from one justifiable source”
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