As six years of shocks have disrupted the global economy, a Jacksonville Port Authority official said swaying prices and job markets could offer the port a chance to market its stability.
Speaking during a June 29 board meeting, JaxPort Chief Commercial Officer Robert Peek said that as shipping companies seek to diversify their risk amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war , Jacksonville can position itself as a reliable option for investment.
That opportunity, Peek said, comes as the global economy has shifted from the occasional global shock – the 9/11 attacks, the 2008 recession – to several events in quick succession placing a continued strain on global trade.
Those events, Peek said, began in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic. They continued with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, closures and slowdowns in the Panama and Suez canals, President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and the ongoing Iran war and shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Global supply chains have not been able to recover from one challenge or shock before facing another one, and then another one, and the last six years we’ve been in this kind of this near constant state of instability,” Peek said. “I’ve begun to wonder if things have kind of changed structurally.”
The conflict in the Middle East has driven up oil prices from around $67 a barrel Feb. 27 to a high of around $112 on April 2. As of the June 29 board meeting, prices had fallen back to around $69. But after a weekend in which the U.S. and Iran launched strikes against each other, Peek said analysts expected it would take weeks or months before “everything really settles down.”
“As we work with our terminal operators, and we call on customers, just about every shipper we talked to the last few years have used that word uncertainty,” Peek continued. “We hear it all the time, and it’s allowed us in some cases to present ourselves as a new option of reliability and of efficiency.”
JaxPort promotes its yearslong diversification strategy, which includes expanding its port connections and capacity to handle different cargo types, as helping insulate it from shipping disruptions in any particular region or volatility in import and export markets.
Over the past several years, JaxPort has seen its operations and revenue grow. Operating revenue increased from $65.75 million in fiscal 2023 to $76.1 million in FY25.
JaxPort is also making investments in its Blount Island operations. A harbor-deepening project, totaling $420 million, increased the depth of the channel from 40 feet to 47 feet. The authority also constructed one new vehicle berth and expanded another on Blount Island.
JaxPort worked with the city and JEA to raise six high-voltage lines near the Blount Island terminal from their current height of 175 feet to 225 feet. Each of those projects received funding entities outside of JaxPort, including JEA, the city of Jacksonville and the state government.
With the latest economic shock, Peek hopes the Strait of Hormuz reopens, ships pass through without issue, oil prices fall and demand and cargo volumes rise.
“Our container volumes, the remainder of the fiscal year, they’re going to depend in part on these economic pressures,” Peek said. “What happens with oil prices, any new tariffs, any other changes to the global supply chain, we’re going to be fine, but in terms of pinpointing with accuracy, what they’ll be is a little difficult for the next few months.”