Jacksonville port seeks deepening speedup

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Jan 2010

The Jacksonville Port Authority and its allies are ramping up pressure on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed the deepening of the St. Johns River so bigger ships will have access to the port when the Panama Canal is expanded in late 2014.
The Army Corps said the soonest fully loaded, bigger ships that are able to pass through the expanded Panama Canal will be able to access the port is 2016, but the authority said the timeline is too conservative.
“2016 isn’t acceptable and we have to get closer to 2014,” said Roy Schleicher, the chief of commercial services for the authority. “We could very well have this done by 2014.”
The timing of the dredging project, which could cost $1 billion or more, is critical. If Jacksonville is late to have deep water access, the larger ships would go to other ports instead. But Jacksonville could attract shipping lines’ customers if it could show the port has other advantages and will get post-Panamax access soon, said John Martin, president and CEO of port and shipping consultants John C. Martin & Associates LLC.

Source: Jacksonville Port Authority