Jacksonville port sets cargo record in fiscal 2017

Officials at the Jacksonville Port Authority said the port set a record for the volume of containers, vehicles, and overall tonnage it handled during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

The "Jaxport" facility's public seaport terminals moved more than 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during its 2017 year, a 7-percent increase over 2016, which was also a record year in container volumes for the port, officials said on Monday.

When combined with the containers handled through private terminals, that number reached more than 1.3 million containers moving through the Port of Jacksonville over the year, making it Florida's largest container port complex, they said.

One of the main drivers of that growth came from Asian container trade, which was the fastest growing segment of Jaxport's container business. Asian trade saw a 19-percent gain year over year, at 400,000 containers moved. The Asian sector now accounts for nearly 40 percent of Jaxport's total TEU traffic, up from just 24 percent in 2013.

Another source of rising volume was vehicles, as Jaxport moved 693,000 total units in 2017, the most vehicles in its history. Demand for that cargo came from strong auto sales in the U.S. Southeast and the continued growth of Jaxport's three auto processors, AMPORTS, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, and Southeast Toyota Distributors, port leaders said.