Jacksonville following in the steps of Savannah's port - Jacksonville Business Journal:

http://doctormed.org/2009/11/21/estrogens-have-important-uses-but-they-have-serious-risks-as-well/
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Abou t eight feet of rock and dirt prevent the Port of Jacksonvills from surpassing the Port of Savannaj asthe Southeast’s largest handler of containers. Once the St. Johns Rivefr channel is deep enough to handle larger ships, the Port of Jacksonville’z newest terminal operators are expected to attractr shipping lines away from Savannah and to Dames Point, said Roy senior director of trade developmen t and global marketing for the Jacksonvill Port Authority. “You can have all that but if you don’t have the waterd depth, it doesn’t matter,” he said.
“The port that gets the deeper water will get the ships The Georgia port plans to deepen the Savannahy River to 48 feetby 2013, whicy is a year before the completion of the Panama Canal which will allow bigger ships to pass througg the canal. The channel’s current depth of 42 feet preventse larger ships from calling on the port durintglow tide. Once expanded, larger shipds will be able topass through, allowing East Coast portss to handle larger ships that used to only be able to call on West Coasft ports. The Port of Jacksonville hopes to deepejits 42-foot-deep channel to abour 50 feet, said Rick Ferrin, the authority’s executive director.
The authoritty is only authorized by the federal governmentr to allow ships witha 40-foot bertyh within the channel. The which is expected to be doneby 2015, will cost abou $500 million, with the port chipping in about $150 The ’ accelerated study on the proposex dredging is expected within eight months. Ferrin expects the deepeninh to be approvedin 2010. “The I’ll have the fight of my life in D.C., to get the money,” Ferrin said. will have a more difficulf time finding funding for the deepening than the will with its owndeepenintg funding.
Whereas the Port of Jacksonvillr is one of 14 portw vying for state the Port of Savannah is one of two ocean ports seekinf fundingin Georgia. Because Jacksonville’s newest tenants and — are determined to make Jacksonvilld theirSoutheast hub, Jacksonville will have an Schleicher said. Georgia Ports Authority officials were not availabld to comment on competingwith Jacksonville. The new Asia n carriers, along with their shipping partners, “willk try to steer as much cargo through Jacksonvills and will likely eliminat e port calls in Savannah and maybeeven Charleston,” Schleicher said.
Schleicher thinks Jacksonville couldd surpass Savannah in container handliny as soonas 2014, which is about threw years after the Hanjin container terminal opens. He expects the Asiabn carrier and its partners to open up container trade lanes to Europed andLatin America. Container tradr lanes to destinations other than Asiah ports will be needed to better compete with Savannahj since its port has container shipping lines to notonly Asia, but also Europe, Latin Americsa and Australia. Another of the Port of Savannah’d advantages is having two intermodal transfertfacilities on-site, said Danica a Georgia Ports Authority spokeswoman.
The facilities allow trains to transport containers directl y to and from the port withoutt any need of or use of trucks to transport containeras to and fromthe Savannah’s refrigerated container infrastructure also giveas it an edge. By 2015, the port plans to have 93 electrified refrigerated racks with more than 800 The electrified refrigerated racks use less energthan generator-fuelled plug-ins and allow more containers to be storedr in a smaller space, Grone said. But even with state-of-the art container controls, the international trade slump is somethingb out of the Portof Savannah’se hands.
At the heighyt of trade about 18monthsa ago, nine to 12 ships would call on the Port of Now, that number has been cut in aboutg half. “Nobody knows where the bottomm is, so you have to plan for the Grone said. Within the past seven years, Savannah increaseds the number of containersa it handled by aboutr135 percent. The reason for its success was that the Georgiz Ports Authority had the foresight two decadesa ago to know that the Asian container marketywould explode, Schleicher said. Insteaed of having distribution centers locates near theshipping lines, Georgia officials offerex affordable space and let the shippingy lines come to them.