The drumbeat for Jacksonville becoming a liquefied natural gas leader likely will intensify after a deal announced Friday is bringing another manufacturing plant to the region.
WesPac Midstream, a California-based energy group, purchased waterfront land Wednesday with the intent to build an LNG plant. The 36-acre parcel is at 9225 Dames Point Road, adjacent to the Jacksonville Port Authority’s Dames Point Marine Terminal.
A deed recorded Thursday shows the purchase price was $11.75 million for the former CertainTeed Gypsum and Ceiling Manufacturing Inc. drywall plant. Hobart Joost, Industrial Services director and principal for Colliers International Northeast Florida, and Brian Sapp, Fischer & Co., represented CertainTeed Gypsum in the transaction, according to a news release.
The adjacent port land will be home to JaxPort’s $30 million Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2015. The facility will unload cargo off ships and directly on to trains, eliminating the need to truck those products to a rail-accessible yard for transport. LNG could be one of those possible products.
Brian Taylor, JaxPort’s CEO, calls the WesPac plant a “next, welcomed step as our visionary customers continue to pioneer the use of this cleaner fuel in the maritime industry.”
“The opportunities for our current and future port customers — and Northeast Florida as a whole — grow each time companies such as WesPac invest here and help us build on the momentum,” Taylor said in a statement.
The Winter 2014 edition of JaxPort Magazine is dedicated to the alternative fuel and its impact and potential for Northeast Florida.
In February, WesPac and Pivotal LNG announced their joint venture had been selected by TOTE Inc. to provide LNG to fuel the company’s new container ships in Jacksonville. Pivotal is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based AGL Resources. TOTE is the parent company of Jacksonville-based Sea Star Line, which is building the world’s first LNG-powered container ships for its Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico, trade. They’re expected to be completed in the next couple of years.
A call for comment from the company was not returned Friday afternoon or Monday morning.
Crowley Maritime Corp. last year announced its purchase of two LNG-powered vessels, but hasn’t selected its dedicated fuel provider.
But, the WesPac deal does show Jacksonville’s capability for becoming a national and international leader in the industry, said Matt Jackson, Crowley’s vice president of LNG business development.
“It really puts a flag in the ground for the first LNG hunkering capabilities in the U.S.,” said Jackson. “It opens up more opportunities for growth and ship owners.”
Another California-based company, Clean Energy Fuels Corp., already has plans to build an LNG terminal production facility along the St. Johns River at 1632 Zoo Parkway. The company is backed by Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens and along with its partners plan to be complete by the end of next year.
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