Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) executives and representatives of the Hanjin Shipping Company of Seoul, Korea signed a 30-year lease agreement calling for construction of a 90-acre container facility at the Dames Point Marine Terminal in North Jacksonville. The lease contains an option for further expansion. The $300 million Hanjin Container Terminal at Dames Point is expected to open for business in late 2011 and will be a key hub operation for Hanjin’s east coast port activity.
The new agreement is expected to create more than 5,600 new private sector jobs in Jacksonville and support operations in trucking, distribution and related services. The terminal will generate nearly $1 billion in annual economic impact.
Construction of JAXPORT’s Hanjin Container Terminal should take about 24 months, following the permitting process. The new terminal will be located adjacent to the nearly completed TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point being built for Tokyo-based Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL). The TraPac Container Terminal will open for business in January 2009.
“This is the day we become a major player in Asian and European trade,” said JAXPORT’s Executive Director Rick Ferrin. “TraPac put us on the map and Hanjin takes us to the next level.”
“We at Hanjin chose JAXPORT because it is well-run and well-maintained,” said G.S. Choi, Hanjin Senior Vice President. “We look forward to having Jacksonville as our new gateway to the east coast of the United States,” he said.
During the ceremony Ferrin and Choi signed the official lease contract. Their signatures were witnessed by William Mason, EdD., Chairman of JAXPORT’s Board of Directors and William Rooney, Hanjin Senior Vice President.
Hanjin is Korea’s largest and one of the world’s largest container carriers, moving more than 100 million tons of cargo annually and operating in more than 50 countries. In the US, Hanjin’s subsidiary, Total Terminal International, presently runs dedicated terminal operations in Seattle, Long Beach and Oakland. The proposed Hanjin Container Terminal will be Hanjin’s first dedicated US operation outside the west coast, a strategic move meant to capitalize on the expansion of the Panama Canal and the anticipated increase in container traffic along the east coast.
