Seoul: Hanjin Shipping signed a 30-year lease agreement yesterday with the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) for construction of a 90-acre container facility at the Dames Point Marine Terminal in North Jacksonville. The $300 million Hanjin Container Terminal at Dames Point is expected to open for business in late 2011 and will be a key hub operation for Hanjin's east coast port activity.
Construction of JAXPORT's Hanjin Container Terminal should take about 24 months, following the permitting process and the lease contains an option for further expansion. The new terminal will be located adjacent to the nearly completed TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point being built for Tokyo-based Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL). The TraPac Container Terminal will open for business in January 2009.
"This is the day we become a major player in Asian and European trade," said JAXPORT's exec director Rick Ferrin. "TraPac put us on the map and Hanjin takes us to the next level."
"We at Hanjin chose JAXPORT because it is well-run and well-maintained," said G.S. Choi, Hanjin svp. "We look forward to having Jacksonville as our new gateway to the east coast of the United States," he said.
Hanjin is Korea's largest and one of the world's largest container carriers, moving more than 100m tons of cargo annually and operating in more than 50 countries. In the US, Hanjin's subsidiary, Total Terminal International, presently runs dedicated terminal operations in Seattle, Long Beach and Oakland. The proposed Hanjin Container Terminal will be Hanjin's first dedicated US operation outside the west coast, a strategic move meant to capitalise on the expansion of the Panama Canal and the anticipated increase in container traffic along the east coast. [11/12/08]
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