Walt Disney Parks and Resorts announced Tuesday it will reroute a majority of its merchandise destined for its Central Florida theme parks from the Port of Savannah to Jacksonville’s TraPac Terminal at Dames Point.
The Jacksonville Port Authority has been pursuing Disney as a customer for the port for at least five years. Roy Schleicher, now the port’s executive vice president, talked about conversations with Disney to move goods through JaxPort during a 2007 speech to the NAIOP commercial real estate group in Jacksonville.
Since then, Tokyo-based shipping company Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) opened a $300 million TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point. TraPac, which opened in 2009, is the cargo terminal operating division of MOL in the U.S.
“Bringing a majority of our Florida-bound cargo through Jacksonville is a direct result of the port’s ongoing improvement efforts. This is not only a smart business decision, but will also enable us to continue to build on the positive impact we have on Florida’s economy,” said Anthony Connelly, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts U.S. senior vice president and chief financial officer.
This is the first time goods being shipped to Disney’s Central Florida parks will pass through Jacksonville ports. MOL provides a link between Asia and Jacksonville that makes the move cost-effective, said Connelly.
He estimated that Disney would be moving 75 percent of its Central Florida-bound merchandise through JaxPort, which would equal about 1,300 containers a year.
Disney joins the businesses that move cargo through the port which include Rooms To Go, Michael’s Stores, Haverty Furniture Companies, Coach, Bridgestone, PSS World Medical, Sears, Samsonite, Maxwell House and Unilever.
“This is what all of us in Florida want. We want the products our Florida citizens and visitors buy brought in through our ports, not brought by truck or train from somewhere out of state. Step by step, one container at a time, we are working to bring the jobs and dollars that come along with the movement of those goods back home where they belong,” said Paul Anderson, port CEO.
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