A.G. Gancarski
FloridaPolitics.com obtained a copy of internal talking points designed to help Jacksonville officials sell the Florida Department of Transportation on advocating a $24 million TIGER Grant for JAXPORT.
This project, claims the talking points, “will make JAXPORT the largest wood pellet terminal in the U.S. and enhance U.S. exports by two million tons of manufactured wood pellets per year by 2020.”
The goal: “intermodal infrastructure enhancements for exports.” Those exports: Georgia wood pellets, destined for European markets, such as Denmark and Belgium.
The talking points sell JAXPORT as the sole point of export, justifying the $24 million TIGER grant funding “37 percent of a new wood pellet intermodal system that will export wood pellets manufactured in Georgia and shipped out of JAXPORT to several locations in Europe.”
The project is slated to make use of an underutilized section of the port, potentially creating jobs locally and throughout the Southeast, while “provid[ing] the logistical network to export a manufactured energy supply.”
The total cost of the project is $64 million. Forty million dollars — or 63 percent — will be matched by Diversified Port Holdings, a Jacksonville-based company.
A Georgia company, Blue Sky Biomass, has invested $30 million in manufacturing the pellets; without a dedicated port, commerce is a challenge.
What would JAXPORT get for this $64 million? Infrastructure enhancements that will help with this sector, and augment the competitiveness of the port more generally.
- Upgrades to the gates for the efficient movement of traffic in and out of the terminal.
- Demolition of the underutilized refrigerated warehouse and smoothing out of the land under the warehouse.
- Replacement of the existing 4,940 linear feet with nine turnouts and construction of a new rail loop consisting of 2,525 linear feet with three turnouts.
- Upgrades to the soil to accommodate the pellet storage infrastructure.
