JAXPORT’s fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. The Asian container trade is the fastest growing segment of JAXPORT’s container cargo business, accounting for 33 percent of the business in the first six months of FY2016 up from 31 percent the same period in FY2015 and just 7 percent in FY2014.
The port has recorded an average of 28.5 percent annual growth in Asian container volumes during the past five years.
JAXPORT offers direct trade with Asian ports through both the Panama and Suez Canals and currently 13 of the 17 global ocean carriers serving the Asia-U.S. trade lane offer service through JAXPORT.
Two major harbor improvement projects currently underway, including the project to deepen the Jacksonville shipping channel to 47 feet, will offer the largest container ships calling on the U.S. East Coast unobstructed access to the port’s terminals.
JAXPORT continues to invest in major growth projects including a new on-dock rail facility opening summer 2016, new 100-gauge container cranes to be operational at Blount Island in the fall and ongoing upgrades to terminal berths, docks and rail.
Other areas of JAXPORT’s business continue to grow as well, with container volumes to and from Puerto Rico growing 10 percent and the shipment of breakbulk cargoes, such as fertilizer, metals, forest products, perishables and project cargo increasing 34 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year over the same period last year.