Jacksonville eyes study of rail access at port

A study beginning later this month is a key step to help port and logistics leaders figure out how and where they will build a railroad terminal that the Jacksonville, Fla., port needs to stay competitive with other Southeast ports, the Jacksonville Business Journal reports. A facility or facilities where containers can be loaded and unloaded off rail cars - called an intermodal container terminal - isn't needed now because there aren't enough shipping containers coming through the port.

But to realize the port’s expectations of increased Asian trade –
creating a $1.8-billion annual impact and thousands of jobs – an
intermodal container terminal or terminals have to be built to handle
increased business and attract more. The terminals cost between $80
million and $200 million.

Shipping customers save money using
on-dock intermodal terminals because they don’t have to pay for trucks
to bring the goods and materials to the train since the containers are
loaded onto rail cars right off the dock. Near-dock intermodal
facilities don’t offer the same savings, but trucking a container to a
site within a mile of the port is still cheaper than trucking it to the
two existing Jacksonville intermodal facilities, which are about 20
minutes away.

The question of when an on-dock or near-dock
intermodal terminal should be built will also be addressed by the
study, conducted by Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc. The multi-year
study, which begins later this month, will determine how much and what
types of cargo will come through Northeast Florida over the next 25
years and the best way to handle that cargo via ship, truck and rail.

An
intermodal facility would handle about 30 percent of the cargo coming
through the port, and that’s why surrounding road improvements are
necessary, too, said Jeff Sheffield, executive director of the North
Florida Transportation Planning Organization. The agency tasked with
planning the area’s transportation system, along with the Jacksonville
Port Authority and the city of Jacksonville, is paying for the $350,000
study.

"The main question with this study is, ‘Why didn’t we do it five years ago?’ " said Ronald Ratliff, RS&H vice president.

The
reason is that only recently have the state and federal governments
pushed for a comprehensive plan on handling freight cargo. Plus, data
on expected cargo – which will be collected and analyzed by John C.
Martin & Associates LLC, a maritime consulting firm – is more
precise than current forecasts of cargo volumes.

By fitting the
study into its state and national counterparts, Ratliff said road
improvements and construction of an intermodal terminal would be
eligible for funding assistance. Part, if not all, of the construction
and operation of the terminal could be contracted out to a third party,
said Roy Schleicher, the Jacksonville Port Authority’s chief commercial
officer.

Not only does the port need an intermodal facility to be
competitive, but also CSX Transportation cannot be the only railroad
providing service to it, said Tom Finkbiner, senior chairman of the
Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver.

The
question is whether CSXT, the nation’s third-largest railroad, will
allow Norfolk Southern trains to use its line to connect to Dames
Point, where TraPac Inc. operates an Asian container terminal and
Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. plans to open a terminal in late 2014.
Jacksonville’s main port competitor, Savannah, Ga., has one intermodal
facility serving each railroad, and the Port of Charleston in South
Carolina is working to get dual-railroad direct access to its port.

Jeff
Heller, Norfolk Southern group vice president of international
intermodal, said the goal of an on-dock intermodal facility is to
provide shipping customers with two options. If the railroad isn’t
given direct access to the terminal docks, it will still provide
competitive rates to and from the port.

Vance Bennett, CSXT’s
director of intermodal port strategy, said his company would determine
whether to give Norfolk Southern access after it determines whether the
intermodal facility would have enough space and access to handle both
rail carriers. He added that CSXT doesn’t see itself investing in the
lines connecting to the intermodal facility until it can load about 150
rail cars of goods and materials per train.