Brian Taylor knows there are obstacles to overcome to make Jacksonville’s port reach its potential.
Dredging Jacksonville’s harbor channel to 47 feet has been the most talked about, but also the most expensive. Momentum for that is building, the Jacksonville Port Authority CEO says.
Yet, there are other ways to attract business.
Aaron Bowman knows about luring companies. The JAXUSA Partnership vice president of business development spends his days trying to help companies expand and relocate to Jacksonville.
He faces obstacles in achieving his goal, too.
On Tuesday, both men told the Logistics Advisory Group about some of those challenges and fixes that possibly could help boost area business.
For Taylor, it could be the need for more port-related incentives to lure business. Local and state leaders are doing a better job, he said, but it’s an area where officials are still “very far behind.”
Regulations hampering intake of perishables mean items like South American fresh fruits bypass Jacksonville and instead make their way to Philadelphia, only to be shipped back south. It’s a lost opportunity, Taylor said, and pressure needs to be placed on the state’s agricultural department to loosen regulations.
Likewise, truck weight limits mean restrictions on certain types of cargo that now have to be taken elsewhere.
Taylor, though, said the port isn’t as far behind as people may like to think.
“I’m getting a little tired, at times, of people saying we’re so far behind the competition,” he told the group.
A boost in the Asian trade market, 12 years of consistent growth and a major investment into Liquefied Natural Gas facilities and technology all should be seen as accomplishments.
Telling that story is part of trying to change perception, which Bowman does daily. A company like GE Oil & Gas helps tell that story. The industry giant, part of a Fortune 10 company, recently announced its plans to relocate a manufacturing facility to Jacksonville.
Bowman helped lure the company using incentives, but such perks can’t be the starting point for any conversation for a business looking to expand or relocate, he said. That’s a red flag, typically meaning the company doesn’t have cash, its officials are novices or the company is using Jacksonville as leverage.
Instead, challenges for Bowman and economic development officials come in other forms. Like high wages, which is positive and a negative, he explained.
Duval County ranks third in Florida’s 67 counties in terms of wages, which Bowman said is a plus. But, when trying to arrange incentives tied to job-creation, those higher wages can serve as a detriment in reaching needed minimum benchmarks to incentivize.
For instance, if the average wage is about $47,000, and $55,000 is needed to trigger an incentive, it’s tougher for companies to pay that to warehouse workers.
Finding a way to offset that will help, he said, as reducing burdens like sales tax on leases. As for buildings, the local market still has some of the 500,000-square-foot facilities companies tend to seek, but it’s drying up.
Employees and buildings often are the first two topics companies ask about, Bowman said, but the 500-job, 500,000-square-foot buildings are in short supply.
“It’s what we’re up against,” he said.
Like Taylor, though, Bowman said reports of incentive deals elsewhere that exceed Jacksonville’s don’t always offer far-better value. Those that come out of Georgia, for example, have to figure in a state income tax.
Still, outside of incentives, the No. 1 component of any deal is that Jacksonville has to fit a company’s business model. If the buildings, employees or another aspect makes it too much of a risk, a company won’t come, no matter the incentives, Bowman said.
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