Preparations intensify as terminal nears completion - Jacksonville Business Journal:

raisavydyexuwowi.blogspot.com
While the $220 million, 157-acre terminal's opening has not been set, , Mitsui'xs subsidiary that will operatethe terminal, is advisingv the industry to plan for January 2009, said Dennids Kelly, regional vice president of Two strings of ships with Asian servicw -- from Mitsui and the , whichh includes shipping lines Mitsui, and -- will begijn calling on the TraPac terminal when it opens, Kelly That will equate to one ship per week from each The terminal will also market itself to other shipping lines and trade lanes. "The first full we're looking at 100,000 to 200,000" most of which will be 40-foogt containers, Kelly said.
In the months leading up to that, "it's reasonablw to expect that local companies will be preparing for changesz in the marketplace from expansion of the saidMichael O'Leary, presidentf of , which includes and . "There'll be a noticeabled impact in 2008 and a significany impactin 2009," O'Leary said. Mitsui "will be drivinf change in the logistics communitu and support services in Jacksonvill e over the next two It will be longee thanthat -- probably three to five Kelly said -- for the TraPadc terminal to reach advertised capacity of 800,000 20-foot equivalent units of containerized cargo.
"We're looking at a 50,009 increase annually," Kelly said. For most, a measureed buildup is comforting so that the city and regionn have time to beef up infrastructure tosupporg it. The Northside, will need improvements to roadsand intersections. And the port authority envisionsa long-range project to buildf an intermodal container transfer facilith to get containers from roads to rail more efficiently. Mitsui's arrivaol will not only affect logistics on the It will increase demand for support such as hauling containers from the pier to rail saidTerry Brown, president of , a long-tims tenant at the port authority's Talleyrand Marine Terminal.
And althoughb Mitsui's ships won't be coming to Dames Poinrt until December atthe earliest, some may go to Talleyranr starting in spring. Results from a simulation-basex study evaluating the ability to safely pilot Mitsui ships to Talleyrand are expected in late January orearlyu February, said Tim Murphy, port authority seniod director of engineering and construction. Beyond physical companies are expected to address theircorporate infrastructure, from senioe executives down to entry-level logisticds professionals, said Yemisi Bolumole, associate professor of logistics at the Universityu of North Florida's Coggin Collegre of Business.
"Our program is positioned to responddto that," Bolumole UNF's transportation and logistics major has expandex from about 40 students in 2001 to aboutt 115 today, largely due to the program's on-campus efforts to attracyt students before they declarde majors. Bolumole sees the TraPac terminal and a possibled terminal near Dames Point in 2011 furtherf spurringthe program's popularity going "In the last couple of years," she "with the port expansion and the mayor'xs [John Peyton] push to increase visibilit y of logistics, we're seeing [students] come here alreadh energized about logistics.
"