A regional plan designed to outline the needs of North Florida freight and logistics industries is nearing completion and will be used to educate the public on the importance of the industries and pursue funds for improvements.
The Jacksonville Port Authority, the City, JAXUSA Partnership and the North Florida Regional Transportation Planning Organization are sharing the cost for a comprehensive “North Florida Freight, Logistics Industry and Intermodal Plan.”
Infrastructure consulting firm Reynolds, Smith & Hills was commissioned in January 2011 to develop the plan.
Rob Palmer, who leads the planning, transit and traffic efforts in the RS&H Jacksonville office, said plans are to present the completed document by October.
The document is being created to educate the public, especially legislators, about the benefits of investing in the freight and logistics industries.
“The purpose of the plan is to build a communitywide consensus around this industry with a focus on improvements that we can put in a plan,” Palmer said.
“We’re not trying to drill down on any one specific aspect too deep. I’m not going to be at the terminal level trying to figure out what the next crane upgrade ought to be. That’s not what the plan is for,” he said.
RS&H released some of the data it has collected through an online stakeholder survey.
The most important projects were found to be Mile Point, harbor deepening, the intermodal container transfer facility and highway-freeway expansion.
“The Mile Point project has reached and penetrated enough of our population to be on the tip of their tongue,” said Palmer.
Mile Point is a harbor project to improve the flow of the St. Johns River where the Intracoastal Waterway and St. Johns River cross-currents pose navigational hindrances for deep draft vessels during certain tidal conditions.
The port is pursuing the project along with efforts to deepen its shipping channels to 50 feet to better serve post-Panamax ships that will be traveling through an expanded Panama Canal.
The port has begun serving the larger ships, but they cannot call on Jacksonville’s port fully loaded because of draft restrictions.
Dennis Kelly, regional vice president and general manager of the TraPac container terminal at Dames Point, told the group that the port would have more time to prepare itself for the opening of the expanded channel.
The canal “will be testing the gates in 2014, but it will probably be spring of 2015 before it is open,” Kelly said.
The Panama Canal Authority originally intended to complete the project by 2014.
The survey also scored the region’s business climate.
On a scale of 0-4, the North Florida region rated 2.4 overall. Its best score, 2.7, was in partnerships and collaboration. Its worst score, 1.7, was in incentives offered to business.
The title of “America’s Logistics Center” also was important, with 88 percent of those surveyed saying it was somewhat important or very important.
The Florida Department of Transportation also is surveying freight and logistics industries to find out what they would like to see from the recently created Office of Freight, Logistics and Passenger Operations in the department’s Intermodal Systems Development Division.
“We are still defining the role of the office,” said James Bennett, Florida Department of Transportation District 2 Urban Transportation Development manager.
Juan Flores was appointed state freight and logistics administrator and is developing the district freight and logistics coordinator program.
The office was created as part of Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to establish Florida as a global hub for trade, logistics and export-oriented manufacturing activities
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