The facility that will connect Jacksonville and Asia should be ready for business in 2008.

By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union
March 27, 2007

With the help of trained professionals, the chairman of the Jacksonville Port Authority and the chief executive officer of shipping company MOL (America) managed to get the first load of limestone delivered to the Authority's newest terminal on Monday.

Getting the rock spread out - a sight that included Mayor John Peyton in sunglasses and hard hat handling a golden rake to smooth the stone into place - marked the beginning of construction of the terminal.

It will take almost two years to come to fruition, but Monday's ceremony marked a big step in a process that will lead to thousands of jobs and an even larger number of trucks becoming part of North Jacksonville.

The facility, Jacksonville's fourth marine terminal, will be built in conjunction with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and operated by MOL subsidiary TraPac. Providing the first major direct connection for containerized cargo from Asia, the new service is expected to put Jacksonville on the international trade map.

"We are creating the future of Jaxport and the future of this entire region," Executive Director Rick Ferrin said before kicking off the raking party. "We will move more cargo through this facility than all our other facilities combined."

Although the contractor was no doubt happy for the assistance provided by Tony Nelson, chairman of the Jacksonville Port Authority, and Osamu Suzuki, president and CEO of MOL (America), official construction won't actually begin until today on the $149.5 million project, with W.G. Yates and Sons Construction Co. building upon the recently cleared land near the Dames Point Bridge.

MOL will pick up much of the cost of the project during the 30 years it leases the facility, with the Port Authority and the state kicking in a total $25 million.

The first part of the construction - dredging the dock area, building berths and setting up the container storage area - will take about 22 months, with port officials expecting the terminal to be ready to receive ships by the end of 2008.

Meanwhile, the authority is about to go out for bids on the second part of the project, which encompasses the vertical buildings at the site. A contract for that work, anticipated to cost between $25 million and $45 million, should be let by the end of April, said David Smolder, who is managing the project for the authority, with work commencing a month or so after that and finishing up about three months before the terminal opens.