JaxPort is landing a new service that will provide direct connections to five ports in Asia, CEO Eric Green announced Oct. 28.
In a report to the JaxPort board of directors, Green said shipping line Ocean Network Express plans to add JaxPort to its East Coast 2 container service beginning in February 2025.
The port rotation will be Xiamen, Yantian, Ningbo and Shanghai in China; Busan, South Korea; Manzanillo, Panama; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Jacksonville; Manzanillo; Busan; and back to Xiamen. The connection to Ningbo is new for Jacksonville.
Ocean Network Express (ONE) will operate the weekly service at the port’s Blount Island Marine Terminal, using a fleet of 13,500-TEU container vessels. SSA Atlantic will provide stevedoring services, according to JaxPort. TEU stands for 20-foot equivalent unit, which refers to the size of a standard shipping container that is about 20 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall.
Robert Peek, JaxPort chief commercial officer, said the new service could bringing an additional 40,000 TEUs or more to JaxPort.
The effect on jobs at the port wasn’t immediately available, but Peek said that any addition of ship calls and containers would increase the number of work hours by longshoremen, truck drivers and others involved in moving cargo.
Commodities that are expected to be routinely shipped in the new service include foods and beverages, electronics, other retail products, and goods and supplies that are used to make other products, such as wood and metal.
“By adding JAXPORT to our rotation, we are strengthening our connections between East Asia and North America while enhancing the options available to our customers,” ONE stated in a release from JaxPort.
ONE offers two other container services from JaxPort, with destinations in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Canada.
In 2022, work was completed on a four-year, $420 million project to deepen the 11-mile federal shipping channel in the St. Johns River from 40 feet to 47 feet. The dredging allowed the port to attract larger Asian cargo carriers.
“Anchored by harbor deepening, JAXPORT and our port partners have made significant investments in modernizing container handling capabilities at Blount Island,” Green stated in a release. “These investments continue to attract global shippers, and the jobs and economic impact their cargo supports, to Jacksonville.”
More work is underway at the port, where a $72 million expansion and modernization of the SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal is proceeding toward an expected completion in 2025. The expansion will allow the terminal to accommodate more than 600,000 containers annually, a 150% increase over its current capacity.