Port Of Jacksonville News

Shipyards across the U.S. are investing in new equipment to increase lift capacity, opening up the door for more projects and improved efficiency.Southern California-based Marine Group Boat Works, which performs a mix of yacht, commercial and government vessel repair work, in 2022 repowered its 665-ton Marine Travelift mobile boat hoist—the largest on the West Coast—with a Tier 4 John Deere engine. And earlier this year it was awarded a MARAD Small Shipyard Grant worth more than…

To help foster interest and understanding of the maritime industry in the 'next generation,' earlier this week NYK welcomed students and parents from the Jacksonville Japanese School to board Apollon Leader, a pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) that was moored at the port of Jacksonville.The Jacksonville Japanese School opened in 2011 in Florida for children who can speak and understand Japanese at their appropriate grade levels, regardless of nationality, in addition to adults who have an interest in the language and culture.

Seaside LNG announced the acquisition of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling barge the Clean Jacksonville from TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, LLC, a subsidiary of TOTE Group, LLC.Seaside LNG’s maritime transportation company, Polaris New Energy, has contracted to continue fueling TOTE’s Marlin Class LNG-powered containerships and other commercial customers with its fleet of LNG bunker barges. The Clean Jacksonville recently reached a significant milestone having successfully completed…

BAE Systems announced it will spend $200 million for upgrades aimed at increasing capacity and flexibility at its Jacksonville, Fla. ship repair yard. The investment covers the preparation, construction, procurement and installation of a modern Pearlson shiplift and land-level ship repair facility, giving the yard the capability to service a greater number of vessels more efficiently.Located two miles from the Atlantic Ocean, at the intersection of the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway…

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation has been awarded a $105 million Base and Option B contract award on the Jacksonville Harbor Construction Dredging, 47-Foot Contract C Cut-42 Project, the U.S.' largest dredging services provider announced Friday.Great Lakes said it expects the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to award additional option work items on the contract by mid-2021 with a value of $11.5 million, resulting in a total contract award of $116.5 million.Dredging is scheduled…

A three-alarm fire that broke out aboard vehicle carrier Höegh Xiamen in the Port of Jacksonville last week continues to burn but has been controlled and contained, authorities said Monday.Firefighters with Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department (JFRD) and specialist marine firefighters with Resolve Marine Group are working to maintain the structural integrity of the 600-foot roll-on, roll-off (RoRo) ship and reduce the threat of any environmental impact to the river. Containment booms have been placed around the vessel as a precautionary measure, though no pollution has been reported.

U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administrator Rear Adm. Mark Buzby joined elected officials and leadership from Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) and SSA Marine on Nov. 22 to break ground on a new state-of-the-art international container terminal at JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal.The SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal is an expansion of SSA’s current leasehold at Blount Island and includes $238.7 million in infrastructure and equipment upgrades. Operations will continue throughout the redevelopment, which is expected to be complete in 2023—coinciding with the completion of the federal project to deepen the Jacksonville shipping channel to 47 feet.

Jaxport, the port of Jacksonville, Florida, had its best ever January container volumes, with total container movements increasing 16 percent over the same period last year.Nearly 121,400 twenty-foot equivalent units (or TEUs, the industry standard for measuring containers) moved through JAXPORT in January 2019.The port’s Asian container volumes continue to show significant growth, up 17 percent year–to–date with nearly 164,000 TEUs moved so far in Fiscal Year 2019. JAXPORT’s fiscal year runs Oct. 1- Sept. 30. JAXPORT’s Asian trade has grown an average of 14 percent annually over the past five years.January was also a record month for the port’s auto business. Nearly 61,500 autos moved through JAXPORT in January 2019, a double-digit increase over the previous January.

Crowley Maritime Corp. has taken delivery of Taíno – the second of two of the world’s first combination container/roll on-roll off (ConRo) ships powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) – from shipbuilder VT Halter Marine Inc., of Pascagoula, Miss.Taíno will soon join sister ship El Coquí, which was delivered in July, in providing fast, reliable and environmentally friendly shipping and logistics services between Jacksonville, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. This major milestone marks the final chapter in construction of Crowley’s $550 million investment in the two newly built…

Eagle LNG, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ferus Natural Gas Fuels, informed that the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted the company their draft environmental impact statement (DEIS).The draft EIS puts Eagle LNG on a clear path to FID on the Jacksonville Export Project and continues Eagle LNG’s success in using small-scale LNG to supply bunkering to the marine industry and to provide small scale LNG cargoes to markets in the Caribbean.“Our customers, and potential clients, join us in being encouraged that FERC has released the DEIS ahead of schedule. It moves us considerably closer to meeting our goal of expanding clean burning, domestic, and affordable LNG supply for marine bunkering and for small-scale LNG projects in the Caribbean.

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s new container/roll on-roll off (ConRo) ship El Coquí delivered its first cargo from Jacksonville, Fla., to the company’s Isla Grande Terminal in San Juan yesterday – a milestone in the company’s transformation of its U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico logistics services.“Increasing supply chain velocity while reducing customers’ landed costs was the core reason for our $550 million investment in this important service,” said Tom Crowley, company chairman and CEO.

The first cargo of nearly 11,000 gallons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was loaded at the new Eagle LNG Partners liquefaction facility located near Jacksonville, Fla. Crowley Maritime Corporation’s LNG group loaded the cargo into an ISO tank container and delivered it over the road to the Port of Jacksonville for ocean transport to support customers in Puerto Rico. “With the successful LNG tank container loading at the Eagle LNG Partners’ Maxville Facility, Crowley can offer even more flexible services and sourcing locations to supply customers with LNG as a cleaner, safer fuel source.

Crowley Maritime Corp. said it has retrofitted two of its heavy lift, flat-deck barges, 455-3 and Marty J, to provide additional capacity to customers shipping cargo between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico. With the 455-3 sailing early Tuesday morning from the Port of Jacksonville, Crowley has now expanded its fleet from nine to 16 vessels, further increasing U.S. flag capacity to transport commercial and relief supplies to support the island’s recovery after Hurricane Maria in late September.

The joint venture between Pivotal LNG and Northstar Midstream, JAX LNG, LLC, has received a Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for the operation of its waterfront LNG facility and the approval to conduct ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operations with TOTE Maritime’s Marlin Class ships and the LNG barge, Clean Jacksonville. The expectation is this ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation will commence early in 2018. In August 2015, JAX LNG and its partner TOTE…

Crowley Maritime Corp.’s newest combination container/Roll on-Roll off (ConRo) ship has been launched at the VT Halter Marine shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. for the Crowley’s service between Jacksonville, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Named El Coquí after a beloved frog native to Puerto Rico, the ConRo is one of the world’s first to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). The ship will now proceed through the final topside construction and testing phase before beginning service in the U.S. Jones Act trade during the second half of 2017.

Hercules Leader, a pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) operated by NYK, rescued six yachtsmen in distress off the coast of Bermuda on January 19. While Hercules Leader was sailing from the U.S. port of Jacksonville to Gibraltar, a British colony south of Spain, the vessel received a request from the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to assist a yacht that had become stranded off the coast of Bermuda. The ship immediately set a course for the yacht and rescued the six sailors around noon. The following day, on January 20, the yachtsmen disembarked from Hercules Leader into a rescue boat off Bermuda, as directed by the USCG. Afterward, NYK was offered appreciation by the USCG in writing. Ship Management: NYK Shipmanagement Pte. Ltd.

JAX LNG said it has executed the remaining engineering and procurement contracts required to begin construction of a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction and storage facility at Dames Point near the Port of Jacksonville. The JAX LNG liquefaction facility is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2017. Once completed, it will be outfitted with a 2 million-gallon storage tank with the capacity to produce in excess of 120,000 gallons of LNG per day. JAX LNG’s Jacksonville plant will be North America’s first small-scale coastal LNG facility and will include marine distribution capabilities utilizing North America’s first LNG bunker barge, Clean Jacksonville. “The LNG industry is seeing a steady growth in demand,” said Tim Hermann, president of Pivotal LNG.

Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) introduced several new initiatives at SIBCON as part of Singapore’s continued efforts to enhance bunkering processes and prepare the bunkering industry to meet future demands. MPA previously announced the mandatory adoption of MFM for Marine Fuel Oil (MFO) deliveries in the Port of Singapore from 1 January 2017. MPA is on track for implementation with 110 bunker tankers already approved to perform MFO deliveries through MFM in the Port of Singapore. More than 23 bunker tankers have also been scheduled for installation and testing over the next two months. Moving ahead, MPA will put in an additional S$0.5 million to fund the test-bedding of the use of MFM for Distillates deliveries.

North America’s first LNG bunker barge is scheduled to be launched in February of 2016, Clean Marine Energy LLC (CME) announced following a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and Society of International Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators (SIGTTO) hosted tour at Conrad Shipyard in Orange, Texas. Roughly 200 industry partners participated in the tour in conjunction with the USCG Liquefied Gas Senior Executive Forum held at USCG Sector Houston on December 9. The 2,200 cubic meter barge hull construction is near complete and abrasive blasting and painting is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks.

Crowley Maritime Corporation recently participated as one of several Gas Technology Institute (GTI) funding collaborators to bring liquefied natural gas (LNG) awareness training to 150 stakeholders and first responders in Jacksonville. GTI, in conjunction with the Florida State College at Jacksonville Fire Academy of the South (FAS), developed the first-of-its-kind training specifically for Port of Jacksonville area stakeholders including Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Departments, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville and area law enforcement. The Jacksonville Marine Transportation Exchange (JMTX) – the maritime trade organization that coordinates the safe…

NTSB Issues Update on Investigation Into Sinking of Cargo Ship El Faro. On February 13, 2015, El Faro successfully completed the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) class and statutory surveys, meeting all rules and regulations as applicable. All deficiencies identified were rectified prior to completion of the surveys. None of the deficiencies were associated with El Faro’s main propulsion systems. The annual inspection of El Faro, required by the United States Coast Guard (USCG), was completed by qualified USCG inspectors in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 6, 2015. In June 2015, a qualified ABS surveyor examined and tested the main, auxiliary and emergency systems as part of the continuous machinery survey program and found them to be satisfactory.

ABS has been selected to class an LNG bunker barge under construction at Conrad Orange Shipyard, Inc, a division of Conrad Shipyard, LLC, for WesPac Midstream LLC and Clean Marine Energy LLC (CME), the classification society announced. The 2,200 cu m barge is scheduled for delivery in mid-2016 and will initially be deployed in Tacoma, Wash., to service shipowner Totem Ocean Trailer Express’s (Totem Ocean) Orca Class ro-ro vessels. The unit will then be relocated to Jacksonville, Fla., to serve parent company TOTE’s Marlin Class dual-fuel container vessels and other LNG-powered vessels in the Port of Jacksonville. Designed by Bristol Harbor Group Inc, the barge features a single tank equipped with the Mark III Flex cargo containment system supplied by GTT North America.

A U.S. Navy salvage team prepared on Sunday to launch a remotely operated submersible to confirm that wreckage discovered near the Bahamas was that of the cargo ship El Faro, lost in a hurricane last month along with its 33 crew members. The team's mission is to document the shipwreck and any debris field, and to retrieve the sunken vessel's voyage data recorder - similar to an airplane's black box - as part of an investigation into its loss, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).