by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Lawyer George Gabel is back, again, to chair the international efforts of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“Again” means his seventh time, and possibly his most important.
“There is going to be tremendous change in the logistics field in Jacksonville and it is going to make Jacksonville much more important in shipping and all the jobs connected with that,” said Gabel.
It’s a critical year for international business in Jacksonville, specifically for the port. In brief, City and industry leaders have said more than $2 billion in port and road improvements are needed to prepare for global shipping after the Panama Canal expansion is completed in 2014, as well as for other opportunities.
That expansion means much larger ships from Asia can travel much more easily to the East Coast through the canal rather than having to dock on the West Coast and ship goods cross-country by train or truck.
Jacksonville already has one major Asian shipping operation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, operating at the Dames Point Marine Terminal and another, Hanjin, on the way.
However, the Panama Canal expansion also means Jacksonville needs to deepen the St. Johns River, an expensive and time-sensitive endeavor, to accommodate those ships.
“We have an opportunity now that may not be available again to us for another 40 to 50 years, if ever,” said Gabel in a recent interview.
“In the days ahead, it may be there are only a couple of ports on the East Coast and West Coast” that can accommodate the larger ships, he said.
“If we miss out, we might not get our share,” he said.
Jacksonville also wants to fix what’s called the Mile Point problem along the St. Johns River, where it crosses the Intracoastal Waterway, creating tidal issues that limit the times that ships can pass through. That issue is considered close to being solved.
Gabel said his three primary goals this year are to help the Jacksonville Port Authority find funds to deepen the river channel; to help develop a plan for ondock rail and intermodal service at the Dames Point Terminal so that containers can be loaded from ships directly onto rail service for delivery; and to review ideas to improve the road system around the port, especially the new shipping terminals at Dames Point.
“About 1,000 trucks a day are leaving the port now. When they are done, it’s estimated at 8,000 a day,” he said.
In addition to those goals, Gabel wants the chamber to continue working on recruiting international business to Jacksonville, which also ties in with Gabel’s new role as a member of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. Gabel said the mayor appointed him to the JEDC because of his international emphasis.
“When I first started in this position six years ago, about 10 percent of the companies interested in setting up an operation in Jacksonville were international,” said Gabel.
The percentage of qualified international leads is now about 40 percent, he said.
“I think the Super Bowl helped and the Jaguars have helped,” said Gabel of the 2005 Super Bowl game in Jacksonville and the NFL team that started playing in Jacksonville in 1995.
“When people come here, they find a sophisticated business community with Southern hospitality, and people like it when they come to Jacksonville,” he said.
Gabel, a partner with Holland & Knight in Jacksonville, has been working with international advocacy groups to raise awareness and opportunities.
There’s the chamber’s international committee, the North Florida Logistics Advisory Group and the Jacksonville International Business Coalition.
The coalition is an independent international business development effort between the JEDC and the chamber’s Cornerstone Regional Development Partnership.
The 15-person group was created to include the City Council president; the chairs of the chamber and the JEDC; and the executive directors of the JPA, JEDC, Jacksonville Aviation Authority, First Coast Manufacturers Association and Cornerstone. Remaining members are appointed by the mayor and chamber chair. Gabel is a member and helps to set the agenda.
The Logistics Advisory Group, which Gabel organized in 2009 and leads, includes representatives from industries, the military and other groups associated with international trade, as well as City, port and other officials. It also includes decisionmakers from other counties.
Gabel said the international business coalition and the chamber’s international committee each meet quarterly. The Logistics Advisory Group, formed just a year and a half ago, meets six or seven times a year, he said.
“One of my strengths is to get people together,” said Gabel. “People seem to want to work together and make this happen in Jacksonville.”
Funding is a key element in reaching Jacksonville’s international potential, he said. One way to secure federal funding is to have a regional plan.
Gabel said that while individual agencies, departments and authorities have their own plans, there isn’t a comprehensive regional plan.
“When the JPA goes to Washington and asks for money, it’s just the port asking. We need the whole community asking for it,” he said.
To that end, Gabel said the JPA, the City, Cornerstone and the North Florida Regional Transportation Organization are splitting the cost for a comprehensive “North Florida Freight, Logistics and Intermodal Plan.”
A summary from the Logistics Advisory Group’s Nov. 4 meeting shows that Jacksonville-based Reynolds, Smith & Hills was commissioned to develop the plan.
The first phase of the study should be completed this summer. An RS&H executive said freight was one of the most critical elements to link the region to the global economy.
“Our common goal should be to position Northeast Florida as a globally significant freight, logistics and intermodal hub,” said the meeting summary.
“For that purpose, we will need a comprehensive regional plan that provides the essential facts to support our identified capital infrastructure needs and is built upon strong community support.”
Gabel said Jacksonville’s port is competing with Savannah and Charleston and other ports for harbor-deepening funds.
He said that there are other funding sources and assistance, including the federal funds paying for deepening the channel at the mouth of the St. Johns River for Mayport Naval Station to support a nuclear aircraft carrier.
He said the military also might need to dredge into the St. Johns River to clean the slip for the U.S. Marine Corps at Blount Island.
Gabel said he also is hopeful that Gov. Rick Scott “will see the business value of focusing on Jacksonville” as an international port, considering other Florida ports are considered to be regional ports serving their areas rather than, like Jacksonville, serving the Southeast U.S. or beyond. Some of those Florida ports also might be running out of expansion space, he said.
There’s also funding advocacy from the manufacturers association, whose executive director, Lad Daniels, wants to build a case for a tax to support port expansion.
“I would support that,” said Gabel. “For every dollar invested in our port here we would bring in $8 in value in jobs and economic benefit.”
However, he realizes it’s a tough economic time to talk taxes.
“It would be premature to do that now because I don’t think people appreciate the value of what the port brings. A lot more education would be needed,” he said.
But he is encouraged that voters might ultimately support a tax.
Gabel also urges the new mayor, to be elected this spring, to be willing to travel on international economic development trips because they carry weight with foreign officials who might do business with U.S. entities.
“Outside of the country, particularly in the Far East, a government official is very important,” said Gabel.
“It is very important to have a government official (travel on recruitment trips) and our community needs to understand that and appreciate that and encourage that,” he said.
356-2466