JAXPORT Wins a $40 Million Federal Grant to Rebuild Berth 32 at Blount Island
JAXPORT has secured a $40 million federal Port Infrastructure Development Program grant to modernize Berth 32 at the Blount Island Marine Terminal - rebuilding about 900 feet of berth and increasing its load-bearing capacity, the port announced in a release carried Monday.
Jacksonville's port is getting a $40 million federal rebuild on Blount Island. JAXPORT secured a $40 million grant from the Maritime Administration's Port Infrastructure Development Program to modernize Berth 32 at the Blount Island Marine Terminal, according to the port's announcement carried by DredgeWire on November 2 and read by the Local News Desk this run. The work rebuilds about 900 feet of berth and increases the berth's load-bearing capacity.
The Jacksonville award is one piece of a national round: the grant is part of a $498 million allocation covering 35 port projects in 19 states, the report said. Berth work of this kind is the unglamorous end of port competition - deeper, stronger berths are what let a terminal take the larger ships and heavier cargo that shipping lines schedule around.
JAXPORT Chief Executive Eric Green framed the award, in the port's own announcement, as an investment in Florida's largest container port and in the port's role as a U.S. Strategic Seaport - the designation that ties Blount Island's commercial docks to military logistics, alongside the Navy presence at Mayport that this desk covers as part of the same waterfront economy.
The announcement, as carried, sets out the award and the scope; a construction calendar was not in the release read this run, and the desk claims none. What is verified is the money, the berth, the footage and the purpose - $40 million of federal port money landing on Jacksonville's river.
