by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
With state legislators in town Monday to discuss changes to voting district boundaries, Jacksonville Port Authority officials and Mayor Alvin Brown familiarized them between meetings with one of city’s economic drivers.
Brown, port CEO Paul Anderson and Gov. Rick Scott, who recently visited the port, have identified Jacksonville’s port as a job creator and economy stimulator.
“It’s helpful to have representatives and senators here to see what’s going on at the ports. It makes it that much easier to talk about and get support for later,” said District 16 Rep. Charles McBurney.
Rep. Lake Ray, who represents District 17, has worked to bring money to the ports from Tallahassee and agreed with the benefits of the bus tour.
“It gives them a good visual for what we are doing in Jacksonville and what an economic driver the ports can be,” said Ray.
“People understand it’s about jobs, higher-paying jobs,” he said.
About 30 people signed up for the trip, which circled from Downtown to the Dames Point Marine Terminal, where the tour traveled through the TraPac Terminal.
Port COO Chris Kauffmann provided an example of how port improvements could create jobs and spur economic development.
Kauffman said the TraPac container terminal is designed to handle 1 million TEUs, which are 20-foot equivalent units.
“But, currently, it is processing about 180,000 TEUs each year,” he said, indicating that the terminal has not reached close to its potential.
He said it was a combination of the economy, the market and the tidal conditions.
The port has requested assistance with two projects to fix the latter.
The Mile Point project is expected to cost about $40 million and involves channel construction that would address the tidal issues in the shipping lanes caused by the intersection of the St. Johns River and Intracoastal Waterway.
The second project is to dredge the harbor to a depth of 50 feet to accommodate the larger ships that will be traveling through both the expanded Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.
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