TraPac, the container terminal operator and vessel stevedore at the Dames Point shipping terminal, said it experienced good news and bad news Tuesday.
The good news was that its largest ship to date arrived at its terminal. The bad news was that it was heading on to Savannah’s port to load up for the trip back to Asia because the Georgia port has depth two feet deeper than Jacksonville’s.
“Savannah has two more feet of depth and ships want to be as heavy as possible when they leave for Asia, so they load the exports at Savannah,” said Dennis Kelly, regional vice president and general manager for TraPac.
“We need more depth so ships don’t have to leave light. We want them to load up for that trip back to Asia here,” he said.
The YM Milestone of the Yang Ming Transportation Corp. is a ship capable of carrying 6,600 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) and is part of TraPac’s Suez Canal Service to Asia.
The ship is just over 1,000 feet long and 130 feet wide. Kelly explained that the normal size for ships calling on the terminal is 6,300 TEU’s and about 965 feet long.
“Everyone is talking about the big ships that will be coming through the Panama Canal once the expansion is completed in 2014, but big ships are already calling on our ports,” said Kelly.
TraPac will celebrate two years of operating the Suez Canal service June 10.
The call for improvements to the state’s freight and logistics infrastructure has statewide response.
The Florida Department of Transportation recently launched its Office of Freight Planning and Logistics, which is part of the department’s Intermodal Systems Development Office.
“We want to put freight on the department’s marquee and explain how freight is the driver for economic development, and how the state economy’s well-being is tied to it,” said Richard Biter, assistant secretary for intermodal systems development for FDOT.
The office has three focus areas.
First, it plans to “tell the freight story and how it affects people’s lives,” said Biter. That will include educating the public about how freight movement affects different parts of Florida and how it is a key economic driver to attracting business to Florida.
Second, it will develop a freight plan. The office will examine information freight trends and identify infrastructure needs.
Third, it will make outreach efforts to learn from both public and private logistics industries and to spread news about Florida’s efforts to attract freight and logistics businesses.
The office plans to work with national and international markets about Florida’s network of highways, railroads and sea and airports and how those connect to move freight.
“We want to let businesses know that we do have the infrastructure in place and we are committed to both improving existing infrastructure and expanding infrastructure to increase freight mobility,” said Biter.
Biter plans to have staff in place by May.
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