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SSA Marine has completed half of its project to expand and modernize the Jacksonville Container Terminal on Blount Island, putting the company on the path to have the terminal fully operating by 2025.
The $72 million project is set to add higher capacity for stacking containers, expanded trucking lanes and making improvements to terminal gates and lighting at the Jacksonville Port Authority’s Blount Island Marine Terminal.
“We believe that operating a modern, efficient, and high-density terminal like what we have at Blount Island, in close collaboration with Jaxport, allows us to be as competitive and attractive as possible to carriers both today and in the future,” said Lauren Offenbecher, president of SSA Marine’s conventional division, in an emailed answer to questions. “We’re excited about the potential for future growth in Jacksonville, and believe these investments will continue to draw new business to the region."
The project, whose work is being done by Superior Construction, started in January 2022.
SSA Marine is paying for about $50.9 million of the work, with Jaxport contributing about $20 million from a U.S. Maritime Administration grant it received in 2019.
The expansion and modernization of the port could be a catalyst for attracting more companies to Jacksonville, said Robert Peek, the chief commercial officer of JaxPort, who said it would “leverage the port” for economic development in Northeast Florida.
“We work very closely with our area economic development partners to attract new business to Northeast Florida,” Peek said. “And many of these businesses need a port to open and operate their facilities.”
The terminal project — as well as related projects, such as rebuilding the berths at the site — are necessary to capitalize on larger ships arriving at the port after the deepening of the shipping channel in the St. Johns River.
The harbor deepening project was done in May 2022, the fulfillment of a long-held dream to make the river deep enough to handle larger cargo ships. Before the deeper water, the largest ships that could call at Jaxport topped out at the equivalent of 12,000 shipping containers — and only under certain tidal conditions.
With deeper water, the port has started receiving calls from ships carrying 14,000 containers.
The modernization project at Blount Island will increase the terminal’s capacity by 150%, allowing it to handle nearly 500,000 containers a year. That will allow Jaxport to move up to 2 million shipping containers each year across all of its terminals, doubling its throughput of cargo.
“It’s both a capacity and an efficiency improvement,” Peek said.
As of December, the Seattle-based company has paved 40 acres of asphalt and installed lighting and a redesigned terminal system.
Six outbound truck lanes are still being built and expected to open in February 2024. The construction of six inbound truck lanes is slated for completion later in 2024.
By the project's completion in 2025, SSA Marine plans to have paved 97 acres of asphalt to create an abundance of space for stacking containers.
That extra space will be needed, Peek said, saying Jaxport is “bullish” on the future.
Jaxport is focused on accommodating expansion, even with an overall decline in container volume in the U.S. and challenges to international trade such as disruptions on the Suez Canal from conflict in the Middle East, Peek said.
But these are momentary hurdles, Peek said.
“Long term, international trade is going to continue to grow, and Jacksonville is very well positioned to continue capturing its share of it,” Peek said.
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