JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The largest container ship to ever come to Jacksonville docked at JAXPORT Tuesday morning, bringing with it a new era of domestic and international shipping for the city.
Chris Moseley was there along the St Johns River fishing with his family when it pulled in.
“The boat was massive, it was nothing I ever saw before, it was a great experience," Moseley said. "It's good for the trade, you know, bring a lot of job openings, so that will be awesome.”
The magenta-colored ship named One Stork is operated by shipping line Ocean Network Express. With a length of 364 meters or nearly four football fields, One Stork is the largest container ship to ever call on Jacksonville, the port says.
The ship’s journey to Jaxport is the culmination of $420 million-dollar project that deepened 11 miles of the St. Johns River to 47 feet to make room for the large vessel. The process to deepen the river began in 2010 and spanned the administration of four JaxPort CEOs.
“A lot of people thought that we couldn’t get it done but it was a lot of help a lot of partnering and as you can tell it’s paying off," Eric Green, JAXPORT CEO, said.
Carrying electronics, furniture, and other consumer goods the ships holds 14,000 containers, 2,000 more than the largest ships to have previously docked in the port and supports the 138,000 jobs at the port. It will be at JAXPORT's Blount Island Marine Terminal for the 1-2 days as crews unload the goods.
“Means a lot to this community, we’re talking about jobs we’re talk about economy impact for the region," Green said.
Green says the next step is to raise the power lines to allow ships with higher masts a chance to stop in Jacksonville. Funding for that project has already been approved by city council.
This is just one of many large container ships that will be coming to JaxPORT. ONE STORK is the first of nine larger vessels that will call JAXPORT weekly through the EC5 container service.
