b'4American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(FORECASTcontinued from page 2) (NCL) Norwegian Gem, marking the across our lines of business and majorfirst time an NCL ship has been home-initiatives to expand our capabilitiesported in Jacksonville.across our key cargo typescontain-ers, autos, and breakbulk. Public andP ort off ernandinab eachprivateinvestmentsinourterminalsLocatedontheeastsideofthe ensureJAXPORTcontinuestogen- AmeliaRiveronAmeliaIslandin erate business growth benefitting ourNassau County and abutting the city region and state. ofFernandinaBeach,thePortof As reported by JAXPORT, proj- Fernandina,operatedbytheOcean ects expected to improve cargo-han- HighwayandPortAuthorityof dling capacities include: Nassau County (OHPA), is an inde-SSAJacksonvilleContainerTer- pendentspecial-purposedistrictcre-minal: The $72 million modernizationated by the Florida State Legislature project to expand the SSA Terminal willto encourage economic development becompletedthisspring.Thefacilityin Nassau County. The port provides features 97 acres of newly paved asphaltboth imports and exports to more than andcanaccommodateabout650,00014 pulp and paper producers located TEUsannually,bringingJAXPORTsthroughout Florida and the Southeast-total TEU capacity to approximately 2Construction of a new 340,000-square-foot state-of-the-art auto processing facilityern United States, as well as steel and million TEUs annually, nearly double itsfor Southeast Toyota Distributors at Blount Island will be completed this summer. lumber export services to several steel current throughput. JAXPORTcompletedtheexpansiononceSoutheastToyotarelocatestocompanies with mills in the Southeast.New Cranes: JAXPORT is invest- of Vehicle Berth 22 at Blount IslandBlountIsland.TheprojectincludesRecentlythePortdeepenedits ing more than $70 million to maintainto accommodate larger ships callingthe addition of a 250,000 square footberths to 40 feet MLW, added 3 new and upgrade its container crane fleet,the terminal more efficiently. warehouse,whichwillincreasethecranes, and a new Terminal Operating including three new cranes that willports on-terminal covered capacity toSystem(TOS). WithrecentUSACE arrive later this year. The three newo theri nitiativesn oted by handle non-containerized cargo suchmaintenancedredgingofFernandi-Liebherr cranes will serve the PuertoJaXPort i nclude : as forest products by 20 percent. nas federal channel, the Port is now RicotradeaswellasinternationalIncreasingtheairdraft:JAX- Autos: A $54 million project toaccessible to ships with drafts of up volumes. PORT is working with local electricbuild a new vehicle berth 20 at Blountto 40 feet and MLW free of any over-Southeast ToyotaDistributors:providerJEAonaprojecttoraiseIsland will be completed in 2027. head obstructions. The 950-foot turn-Construction of a new 340,000-square- the overhead powerlines near BlountAs JAXPORT major growth proj- ingbasinisdirectlyadjacenttothe footstate-of-the-artautoprocessingIslandtoanoperationalclearanceectplanscontinuetodrivecontainer1,200-footpier.Theporthandlesa facility at Blount Island will be com- of205feet.Increasingtheairdraftbusiness, an additional benefit includesvariety of breakbulk cargoes, includ-pleted this summer. The new facility,allows more ships to utilize Jackson- an increase in the ports cruise businessing steel, aluminum, machinery, paper funded with $120 million in privatevilles47-footdeepwatershippingas well. Cruise statistics at JAXPORTandforestproductsandconsumer investment, enables Southeast Toyotachannel,whichhasananticipatedindicate that in 2024 Carnival markedgoods. It has 250,000 square-feet of Distributors to process more vehiclescompletion by the end of 2026. 20 years of cruising from JAXPORTon-sitewarehousespace,100,000+ annuallythroughJacksonvilleandBreakbulk:Terminaloperatorand 206,000 passengers set sail, a newsquare-feet off-port, and 10 acres of supports more than 800 jobs. Enstructurewillexpanditscurrentport record. This fall, JAXPORT willopen storage, all which sits minutes Auto berth upgrade: Last month,operations at the Talleyrand terminalwelcomeNorwegianCruiseLines(FORECAST continued on page 6)'