Blount Island modernization project moves forward

The JAXPORT Board of Directors unanimously awarded a $48.8 million construction services contract yesterday to Superior Construction Company LLC for terminal improvements to enable the SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal at Blount Island to accommodate more containers.

The construction contract covers the first seven of eight phases – or 77 acres – of the total $72 million, 93-acre capacity expansion project. 

Upon completion of the project in 2024, the SSA facility will be able to accommodate up to 500,000 TEUs (containers) annually, a 150 percent increase over the facility’s current throughput.

The expansion will grow JAXPORT’s total TEU throughput capability to nearly two million TEUs a year, an increase of more than 40 percent.

SSA Conventional President, Mark Knudsen, said: “As completion of the deepening project nears, this facility offers an expanded and highly productive international container terminal that’s ready to handle the growing demands of cargo owners and shipping lines looking to take advantage of the efficiencies the region offers.”

The federal project to deepen the Jacksonville shipping channel to 47 feet will be completed through Blount Island in 2022.

The deepening project includes construction of a vessel turning basin that will allow larger ships to turn at Blount Island.

According to JAXPORT, more than $100 million in berth improvements to enable the facility to simultaneously accommodate two post-Panamax ships will be completed in coordination with the deepening project.