Earlier this month, in front of a crowd of nearly 400 people, Jacksonville Port Authority CEO Eric Green announced major investments and projections for growth this year after record container traffic in 2021.
After his yearly State of the Port update, a panel of economic development, supply chain officials and leaders of businesses including long-term port tenant, Toyota, participated in a discussion about why they’re bullish on Jacksonville and growing opportunities at the port. Speakers talked about the importance of JaxPort for doing business worldwide and a large available skilled labor force that includes retired military people in this area.
With ongoing global supply chain disruption, it takes a lot of people at JaxPort to keep a hugely diverse mix of cargo moving throughout the pandemic. But after a recent tour at the port and listening to speaker after speaker at last week’s gathering of mostly transportation officials, it’s clear that leadership is key for continued growth.
It’s time to recognize Green for the role he’s played in continuing to attract new and expanding business to the port. Since he was named chief executive offer in 2017, the port has attracted $1 billion in new investments, according to JaxPort. That’s significant considering cargo activity in Jacksonville supports 138,500 jobs in Florida and more than $31.1 billion in annual economic impact for the region and state, according to the most recently available study in 2018.
Port jobs pay an average annual salary of $70,570, well above the state of Florida average salary for all occupations of $46,010, Green said at the luncheon.
A lot of people might not understand the importance of JaxPort because they don’t appear in the nation’s top 10 list of port authorities. For instance, while Container News ranked Miami the nation’s top 10 port in 2020 for moving one million containers, JaxPort moved 1.2 million containers that year.
Green said that trade publications do not recognize domestic volumes. They only focus on international trade volumes in ranking ports. In 2021 JaxPort moved over 1.4 million containers. “That’s why we claim to be the largest container handling port in the state of Florida due to our international and domestic cargo volumes.”
“The vast majority of ports handle International volumes but JaxPort serves as a lifeline to Puerto Rico which is domestic trade,” said Chelsea Kavanagh, a port spokeswoman. “The jobs and economic impact that the volumes create are just as significant in domestic trade. About 90 percent of the goods that flow between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico move through JaxPort.”
JaxPort basically operates as a landlord for tenants that actually handle day-to-day operations for the movement of cargo.
It’s impressive that many private businesses are investing private dollars at the Jacksonville port. In the last month alone, new terminal operator Ceres announced a $60 million investment that includes upgrading a facility previously operated by TraPac, and Singapore-based global shipping line Sea Lead selected JaxPort as a port of call on its first U.S. East Coast container service.
Green, who remains the only African American CEO of a major port in the country, is focused on investments, he said, because it creates more high-paying jobs in the community.
“I’m most proud of the harbor deepening project and the public-private partnerships that we’ve been able to create in the last five years,” he said. The harbor deepening project, now expected to be complete as early as May, is touted as a game-changer for this area when larger vessels will be able to come through Jacksonville. SSA Atlantic, a private terminal operator on JaxPort’s Blount Island Marine Terminal, expects with berth changes it can have two large vessels there at once.
When panelist Casey Gunnel Jr. of Southeast Toyota told the crowd at the port luncheon about the port’s position as one of the nation’s top vehicle handling ports, and how they employ 800 associates and plan to stay in Jacksonville, the nearly 400 people in the room applauded loudly.
It is positive news that deserves recognition for both JaxPort and Green.
