by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The Propeller Club of the Port of Jacksonville heard the good and the bad of the “State of the Port” address from new CEO Paul Anderson Thursday.
Anderson pledged that he was ready to fight to put Jacksonville first in line for funding to improve the port, and he pulled few punches.
Anderson received some bad news last week when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers informed the port that a proposed “quick fix” it had proposed that might help expand the window of time ships would be able to dock in Jacksonville was not feasible.
The Port’s Mile Point project aims to change tidal conditions where the Intracoastal Waterway and the St. Johns River meet.
The conditions reduce the time available for fully loaded ships to call on Jacksonville’s port.
Anderson was succinct when asked how the port could encourage the Army Corps of Engineers to be more efficient.
“You change the laws,” said Anderson. “We shouldn’t still be chasing authorization for Mile Point in 2011. The Panama Canal expansion is due to be completed in 2014. It is one of the largest construction projects in the world. Our country should be able to do a $30 million project in the same time,” he said.
“The Army Corps has to be more efficient in how they manage the projects for infrastructure in this country,” said Anderson.
Port Chair David Kulik informed the crowd that the setback doesn’t stop efforts to improve the channel.
“That just means we move on to plan B, which is the permanent fix for Mile Point,” said Kulik.
After the meeting, Steve Ross, project manager for the Army Corps, explained there wasn’t enough justification that the “quick fix” would lift the restriction on shipping, so the Corps will continue with the feasibility study of removing about 3,100 feet of waterward training wall, the “permanent fix” that Kulik referenced.
A draft of the study is expected to be available this summer.
Anderson also was able to provide some good news. The port has recently secured $10 million in funding from the Florida Strategic Intermodal System for wharf repairs at the Blount Island Marine Terminal.
Those funds will be combined with $2 million the port already received for infrastructure improvements and it will match those contributions with its own funds for the estimated $25 rehabilitation project.
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