Florida Seaport System Plan - SeaCIP

Florida Seaport System Plan
• Strengths to Build On. Port of Fernandina has excellent on terminal rail
capable of receiving double-stack intermodal rail cars; it also connects the
two adjoining paper mills. The rail access allows the port to draw forest
products from Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Alabama. Port of
Fernandina offers good waterside conditions with a short-entrance channel.
The port has a diversified customer base and is capable of handling
containers and various break-bulk cargoes. Its geographical location is
conducive for distribution to the Northeast region of Florida and Southeast
Georgia.
• Constraints. Port of Fernandina reports its most significant limitation as
being its ability to expand its limited terminal area; local truck impacts also
are an issue and the Port anticipates improvements will be needed. Overall,
its limited developable area, combined with its limited channel depth and
distance from the nearest interstate, will serve as practical limitations on
container traffic growth, but these constraints are less applicable to break
bulk cargo and regional container shipping lines serving the Caribbean and
South America.
• Moving Forward. Port of Fernandina can be expected to continue its role
as an important regional niche or reliever port within Northeast Florida.
The development of an additional off-port container depot and distribution
facility will be critical to its future growth.
Port of Jacksonville
• Throughput. 23.4 million tons; 754,352 TEUs; and 185,434 passengers.
• Anticipated Growth. For Fiscal Year 2013/2014, the Port of Jacksonville
anticipates handling 33.3 million tons, 1.3 million TEUs, and 350,000
passengers.
• Strengths to Build On. The Port of Jacksonville is one of the largest
container ports in the South Atlantic and the third largest in Florida, just
behind Port Everglades. It is also the leading automobile-handling port in
the South Atlantic and Gulf regions. The Port of Jacksonville is Florida’s
second largest bulk handling port. It currently reports relatively good
conditions for each of its facilities in the areas of waterside capacity and
performance, terminals, landside access, and market connections.
• Constraints. Current constraints are relatively limited. For Blount Island,
the most critical factors are financing of future navigation improvements, interminal
cargo processing (“turn time”), and availability of land for
expansion. For Dames Point, the most critical issues are air draft for
passenger vessels, near-dock rail for container operations, and land
availability for future expansion. For Talleyrand, the most critical issues are
truck access and queuing and land availability for future expansion.
4-3 Florida Department of Transportation
December 2010