Port of Jacksonville
Port of Jacksonville at a glance
Location: Jacksonville, Florida
CBP Port Code: 1803
Imports: $11,800,000 (2008 data)
Exports: $11,300,000 (2008 data)
Total: $23,100,000 (2008 data)
The Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) is a full-service, international trade seaport in the Southeastern United States. JAXPORT owns and manages three cargo terminals in Jacksonville, Fla., including the Blount Island Marine Terminal, the Dames Point Marine Terminal, and the Talleyrand Marine Terminal. JAXPORT also manages the St. Johns River Ferry, which connects the north and south ends of Florida State Road A1A in Duval County.
JAXPORT and its maritime partners handle containerized cargo, automobiles, recreational boats and construction equipment (Ro/Ro), dry and liquid bulks, breakbulk commodities, and over-sized and specialty cargoes. JAXPORT’s three marine terminals handled a total of 8.4 million tons of cargo and a record-setting 656,000 vehicles in fiscal year 2008, making JAXPORT one of the top import and export automobile centers in the United States.
The terminals feature 18 container cranes, on-dock refrigerated and freezer warehousing, and Foreign-Trade Zone status. To help speed goods to market, shippers can take advantage of Jacksonville’s location at the crossroads of three major railroads (CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Florida East Coast Railway) and three interstate highways (I-95, I-10, and 1-75).
A network of privately-owned maritime facilities also operates in Jacksonville’s harbor. Our Seaport Profile offers subscribers more details on the various facilities and services available at the Port.
Key Statistics
In 2008 the port had 1,827 vessel calls. JAXPORT’s tonnage (in short tons) totaled 8,395,510 in 2008: 3,600,716 in containers; 2,475,868 in bulk; 1,366,373 in vehicles; and 952,553 in breakbulk.
The top import regions by tonnage* at JAXPORT in 2008 were the Caribbean, South America (West Coast), Northern Europe, North America, and Asia. The top export regions by tonnage* were the Caribbean, South America (East Coast), Mideast, Northern Europe, and Africa. (*Top import / export information includes cargo shipped through JAXPORT combined with cargo shipped through all private [non-JAXPORT] marine terminals in Jacksonville’s harbor).
Primary Inbound/Outbound Cargo
JAXPORT’s three cargo terminals can handle every type of general and project cargo. Tonnage handled in 2008 included 697,494 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of containers and 656,805 vehicles. Jacksonville’s maritime partners can handle the following:
- Containers: Representing about 43% of all cargo handled at JAXPORT, dry and refrigerated containers ranging in length from 20 feet to 53 feet carry a variety of consumer goods.
- Roll On-Roll Off (ro/ro): The category includes vehicles, construction equipment, and recreational boats.
- Breakbulk: Raw materials such as lumber, rolls of paper, woodpulp, pallets of boxed chicken, and steel are among the breakbulk cargoes handled at the port.
- Liquid bulk: Cooking oil, corn syrup, molasses and other bulk liquids are also handled at JAXPORT terminals.
- Dry bulk: Dry bulk materials such as limestone and gravel are poured into piles on port property at Dames Point.
- Project cargo (heavy lift): Specialty cargoes like locomotive engines, air conditioning chillers for skyscrapers, massive rolls of power cable, and other “heavy lift” items can be handled at JAXPORT terminals as well.
Terminals
JAXPORT owns and operates three public marine terminals in Jacksonville:
The Blount Island Marine Terminal (BIMT) is located just 9 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and has 6,600 linear feet (2,012 m) of deep-water berths. This 754-acre terminal is JAXPORT’s largest container facility an important vehicle import/export center. The terminal also handles Ro/Ro, heavy lift, breakbulk, and liquid bulk cargoes.
Blount Island has one 100-ton whirly crane and six container cranes (three 50-ton cranes, one 45-ton crane, and two 40-ton cranes), with two additional cranes planned for purchase this year. The terminal also offers 240,000-square feet of transit shed space and a 90,000-square foot Container Freight Station for cross-dock efficiency.
Blount Island is located less than 1 mile from I-295 (State Road 9-A) and only minutes from I-95 and I-10. I-75 is only a 1-hour drive west. The terminal’s on-dock rail is served directly by CSX.
The Dames Point Marine Terminal (DPMT) is JAXPORT’s newest marine facility. The terminal is situated alongside the harbor’s main shipping channel. Located 10 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean, the Dames Point Marine Terminal is home to the 158-acre TraPac Container Terminal, where vessels from Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and other carriers offer direct containership service between Jacksonville and ports throughout Asia. The TraPac terminal features new port infrastructure, including roadways, terminal buildings, two 1,200-foot berths, and six Post-Panamax container cranes.
Northwest of the TraPac terminal is the future home of the 90-acre Hanjin Container Terminal. Site design and permitting for this new facility are ongoing, and, following 24 months of construction, the terminal is expected to open in 2012.
Other cargoes at Dames Point include bulk aggregate material, on sites about 34 acres in size.
The Talleyrand Marine Terminal (TMT) is located 21 miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the St. Johns River. This 173-acre terminal has 4,780 linear feet (1,457 m) of berthing space; a dredging project is underway that will increase the channel depth from the current 38 feet.
The terminal handles containerized and breakbulk cargoes, imported automobiles, and liquid bulk commodities such as turpentine and vegetable oil. Breakbulk cargoes include steel, lumber, paper, and a variety of frozen and chilled goods. Talleyrand is equipped with six container cranes, on-dock rail, and 160,000 square feet of transit shed space, capable of handling cargo in refrigerated, freezer, or ambient conditions. Additionally, a 553,000-square foot warehouse stores a variety of cargoes, including rolls of fine and specialty papers, magazine papers, and newsprint.
The Talleyrand terminal also offers two 50-LT capacity rubber tired gantry cranes, both of which straddle four rail spurs totaling 4,800 linear feet (1,463 m). Talleyrand’s on-dock rail facilities are run by Talleyrand Terminal Railroad, Inc., which provides direct switching service for Norfolk Southern and CSX. The terminal is only 25 minutes from Florida East Coast Railroad’s intermodal ramp and is located within minutes of I-95 and I-10.
| Companies providing service to Jacksonville area |
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| Air Cargo/Small Package Carriers |
| Customs Brokers/Freight Forwarders |
| Logistics Services |
| NVOCCs/Freight Consolidators |
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| Trucking Services |
| Warehousing Services |
Transportation
Jacksonville offers intermodal connections throughout the South Atlantic region of the United States.
More than 50 million consumers are within an 8-hour truck drive of all three JAXPORT marine terminals. More than 100 trucking and drayage firms operate in and around Jacksonville’s port.
Jacksonville is served by two Class I railroads — Jacksonville-based CSX Corporation (CSX) and Norfolk Southern (NS) — and one regional railroad, Florida East Coast Railway (FEC):
- CSX provides port customers access to its 22,000-mile network, which reaches 23 states and Canada;
- NS operates 21,300 route miles in 22 Eastern states and Canada; and
- Florida East Coast Railway offers 10 daily departures serving locations from Jacksonville to Miami.
Foreign-Trade Zone #64
Jacksonville’s Foreign-Trade Zone #64 comprises several locations in the city, including hundreds of acres of property at JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal and Talleyrand Marine Terminal, the latter of which includes freezer and cold storage facilities. FTZ space is also available at Jacksonville International Airport, which is owned by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority. JAXPORT is now able to sponsor FTZ opportunities for businesses located outside Duval County.
The Port is now seeking to add thousands of additional acres to FTZ #64, including JAXPORT’s Dames Point Marine Terminal and several industrial parks. Meanwhile, JAXPORT can temporarily obtain a minor boundary relocation for non-manufacturing operations to quickly cover a site not currently under the FTZ umbrella and then apply for permanent status. See the Foreign-Trade Zone section of our Jacksonville port profile for contact information.
Future Plans for the Port
Jacksonville’s seaport has four major strategic initiatives for 2009:
- Open and develop new port facilities - Since JAXPORT opened the new 158-acre TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point in January 2009, shippers have enjoyed direct containership access to and from Jacksonville and ports throughout Asia. This trade lane will be bolstered by the anticipated 2013 opening of the Hanjin Container Terminal, a 90-acre facility undergoing site design and permitting this year. The addition of the TraPac and Hanjin terminals triples the container capacity at JAXPORT facilities.
- Deepen the St. Johns River - Plans are underway to deepen the final 5.3 mile section of the St. Johns River’s main shipping channel from its current depth of 38 feet to 41 feet. The project is targeted for completion by Fall 2010. When finished, Jacksonville’s entire 21-mile shipping channel will enjoy a 41-foot depth. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also continuing to study further deepening of the federal channel to post-Panamax depth. A draft of the study is expected in early 2011.
- Continue to enhance port security - JAXPORT implements tight security standards at its marine terminals, standards which now include the Federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential, or TWIC. All regular port users must register with the Department of Homeland Security and carry a TWIC badge to gain access to JAXPORT facilities.
- Expand Foreign-Trade Zone #64 -JAXPORT is working this year to expand Foreign-Trade Zone #64 beyond the borders of the Jacksonville International Airport, International Tradeport, Imeson Industrial Park, and JAXPORT terminals. A larger FTZ #64 would benefit Northeast Florida warehousing and distribution businesses involved in importing, exporting, and manufacturing.
Air Transportation
The Jacksonville area is served by the Jacksonville International Airport (JAX). The airport is located 9 miles north of the central business district of Jacksonville. Jacksonville International Airport has a total of two cargo terminals. The airport’s cargo carriers include Continental Airlines (Air Cargo), Delta Air Cargo, Emery Worldwide, Pilot Air Freight, US Airways, Federal Express, and UPS. In fiscal year 2008, air cargo operators moved more than 163 million pounds of air cargo through JAX.
Major air freight companies operating out of JAX provide 24-hour domestic and worldwide service. JAX’s airside airfreight ramp has some 776,700 square feet on concrete ramp capable of accommodating five B-747s simultaneously and as many as eight smaller aircraft during peak morning and nighttime loading periods. To date, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority has more than tripled the amount of covered air cargo space at the airport, to 215,000 square feet. JAX also has federal inspection service in the airport’s International Arrivals Building. See the Airport Profile section of our Jacksonville port profile for contact information.
Government
The Port of Jacksonville has a full range of government offices located within the port region, including a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service port. In addition, an office of the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration is located in Tallahassee.
| Port Contact Info |
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| Jacksonville Port Authority 2831 Talleyrand Ave. P.O. Box 3005 Jacksonville, FL 32206-0005 Tel: (904) 357-3000 Fax: (904) 357-3060 info@jaxport.com www.jaxport.com |
On December 28, 2007, JAXPORT started enrollment in the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program. The TWIC compliance date for the JAXPORT was on December 1, 2008.
JAXPORT’s TWIC enrollment center is located at 955 Talleyrand Ave., Jacksonville, FL 32206. Hours of operation are Monday thru Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
More information on the TWIC program is available at the Transportation Security Administration website and more information on port security is available at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Homeport site.
