Jacksonville, FL — The years-long push to deepen the Jacksonville harbor appears to be making progress.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is putting $17.5 million toward the project in its work plan, marking the first federal dollars committed to the project.
JAXPORT board chairman Jim Citrano explains why that's so significant.
"Since this is the first federal dollars going into the project, it pretty much ensures that the federal government believes in the project, has confidence in it, and will continue to fund it," says Citrano.
The $17.5 million is designated for the initial phase of the project, which will ultimately deepen the shipping channel to 47 feet.
That additional depth is required to accommodate today's larger ships from Asia.
Citrano says, "The whole Eastern coast of the United States, particularly in the Southeast, below Norfolk, is going to start to receive shipping traffic from the Pacific Rim that hasn't been able to come here before."
According to a release from the Jacksonville Port Authority, JAXPORT has recorded an average of 21 percent year-over-year growth in Asian cargo volumes during each of the past five years.
With this initial funding, Citrano says the project can begin later this year or early 2018.