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.