It has been well-documented that the future of Jacksonville’s shipping industry is tied to Mile Point, an area of the St. Johns River where tides and currents intersect with such force that the maritime industry’s largest cargo vessels can navigate that section of the river during only eight hours each day.
“We’re doing everything we can, but I’m pessimistic,” said Jacksonville Port Authority CEO Paul Anderson about remediation of Mile Point.
Anderson spoke Friday to the Downtown Council of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
He said the source of his pessimism is the attitude of lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
“Our Congress is broken. We need federal authorization (to alleviate the Mile Point problem), but we can’t get it from the congressional leadership. Congress is stuck in a partisan stalemate over everything. They can’t even agree on when the president can come to speak,” said Anderson.
He encouraged his audience members to employ a classic American process to voice their opinion about the issue – apply pen to paper and write their congressional representatives.
Anderson was joined at the meeting by Jennifer Yoder, who represented “Support Our Port,” a local grassroots effort to advocate for port improvements and sustainability.
The group started a campaign, “Bring The Noise,” to encourage citizens to contribute to a letter-writing campaign in support of appropriating local, state and federal funds to improve the port.
“A lot of people want to help the port and the best way they can do that is to contact their elected representatives,” Yoder said.
The group has a website, www.bringthenoisecampaign.com, which has letter templates that can be sent electronically to lawmakers in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C.
The group has set a goal to collect 10,000 pieces of traditional correspondence that it hopes to “drop on the desks” at the nation’s capital, said Yoder.
“We want to create shock and awe in Washington,” she said.
Anderson was named CEO of the port authority in January. While it’s his first job with a port authority, Anderson is a former Federal Maritime Commissioner and spent 10 years as vice president of government relations with JM Family Enterprises/Southeast Toyota.
He served in a similar position with a shipping company in Fort Lauderdale before accepting the CEO post in Jacksonville.
During his career, he has visited more than 30 ports all over the world and he ranks Jacksonville as “one of the top three,” particularly when it comes to support from the community, he said.
He described the port as an international community. It has experienced 11 consecutive years of growth, despite the downturn in the economy and the recession.
Anderson credited cargo diversity for the stability of the port. In addition to handling vessels carrying shipping containers, Jacksonville is the country’s No. 2 importer of vehicles and No. 1 exporter, he said.
“Ten of the 15 largest ocean carriers in the world call on our port,” he said, including vessels from Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East.
Anderson said the larger post-Panamax vessels have received a lot of publicity, but in fact ships of that size are already coming through Jacksonville.
“The industry is very focused on the Panama Canal. What will drive growth in Jacksonville is the Suez Canal, which the larger ships are already using,” he said, citing two Panama Canal routes and one Suez route the port currently serves.
Looking to the future, Anderson said eliminating the issue at Mile Point and preparing for larger cargo vessels, some twice as big as an aircraft carrier, will require an investment, but he said the investment will pay dividends for years to come.
“We look at ourselves as economic developers. The port brings quality jobs and that improves the quality of life,” he said.
The Downtown Council’s next scheduled meeting is 7:30 a.m. Sept. 16 at Currents Bistro in the Aetna Building on the Southbank. First-time visitors are welcome. Details and reservations are available at www.downtowncouncil.org.
356-2466