The Port of Jacksonville got a federal green light to deepen its shipping channel to 47 feet.
It’s a project that supporters say is vital to keep the city competitive with other East Coast ports in the fast-growing container trade with Asia.
JaxPort CEO Brian Taylor announced Wednesday he had received a completed study, or chief’s report, from the Army Corps of Engineers, the governing body that recommends port projects for federal funding.
The study was recommended the $684 million project, but it almost came too late.
Last year both houses of Congress approved separate versions of the Water Resources Development Act, legislation that authorizes the corps to perform its nationwide to-do list of port and waterway infrastructure projects. The last time Congress passed a WRDA bill was in 2007.
Language in the Senate version included JaxPort’s deepening in the list of projects, but the House version said only projects with completed chief’s reports would be authorized.
The fear was JaxPort would not make the cut when the two bills were reconciled in a Senate/House conference committee.
With JaxPort’s chief’s report completed, that issue is now moot.
“I’m so excited, this was truly a team effort,” said U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., who lobbied heavily to get JaxPort included in legislation. “This is a great opportunity for jobs and economic development in this community.”
Congress still needs to pass a reconciled WRDA bill for the projects to move forward.
The House-Senate conference committee is ready to pass its version and Brown said she expects a full Congressional vote next month.
The committee also agreed, Brown said, that 10 other port projects without chief’s reports, including one in Everglades, would be included in this WRDA bill. They will pay for projects with local dollars and receive federal reimbursement.
The next challenge for JaxPort deepening will be to get the $684 million project funded.
The federal government’s share typically covers only 65 percent of the cost, Taylor said. State and local governments must pick up the balance.
A task force to study the city’s role in funding the project will hold its first meeting Friday.
Asked whether the city intends to participate financially in the port project, Mayor Alvin Brown said, “We’ll have skin in the game. You can take that to the bank.”
JaxPort needs to deepen its channel to bring in vessels with a 45-foot draft, which are becoming the norm in international shipping. Now, container ships coming to Jacksonville can only be partially loaded, a practice that increases cargo costs by 80 percent, a port consultant has said.
Deepening JaxPort’s channel will create 13,700 direct jobs, a port study said.
Taylor said the port would begin preconstruction engineering design in June, start dredging in 2016 and complete the project by 2019 or 2020.
“That would be consistent with (the deepening timeline of) other ports in the Southeast and allow us to compete with them,” he said.
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