JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The largest cargo ship to ever come into JaxPort, One Stork docked Tuesday morning, and the magenta-colored vessel, which is the length of four football fields and can carry 14,000 containers, was hard to miss making its way down the river.
SKY4 gives us our first look at the #OneStork passing Mayport Navy Base. It’s the largest ship to come into JaxPort. @wjxt4 pic.twitter.com/t2Pal0uhT3
— Marilyn Parker (@MarilynParkerTV) May 9, 2023
Recently the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deepened the shipping channel to 47 feet. The project cost roughly $400 million.
Ships the size of One Stork need that depth of water to come into a port like Jacksonville when they’re loaded with cargo.
“The Economist showed that there’d be about 15,000 jobs in Northeast Florida that would be either retained or grown as a result of the deepening project because it was going to allow these larger ships that come in, carry more cargo, generate more business. And that’s what we’re seeing now,” said Robert Peek, Chief Commercial Officer of JaxPort.
We spoke with some of those who watched the ship come in Tuesday who said it wasn’t something they wanted to miss, and they respect the work that went into deepening the river for the ship to come in.
JaxPort CEO Eric Green said Tuesday’s event was monumental.
“It’s very important. That means a lot to this community. We’re talking about jobs, we’re talking about economic impact for the region,” Green said. “We produce about 138,000 jobs in the region -- about $31 billion economic impact.”
Peek said with this project complete, they’ve started looking ahead.
The One Stork barely fit under the JEA powerline that crosses the river, and there are now plans to spend around $45 million to raise the wires so more ships can make their way into Jacksonville.
“That’s going to allow even larger ships to come into the port of Jax. Well, that’ll take a couple of years,” Peek said. “So that’s another big construction project. That’s just being started now. But in the meantime, we’re going to start seeing ships that carry at least as many containers, might even see ships that carry a little bit larger than that.”
There are also plans to bring in more cranes to unload the ships, and that could run around $25 million.
One Stork, which currently sails under the flag of Japan, carries goods between the east coast and Asia. It docked at the port’s Blount Island Marine Terminal and it will only take a day to unload its cargo.
We’re told the ship will come through weekly to unload and reload.
Eventually, the port hopes to dredge more so ships like One Stork could even fit under the Dames Point Bridge, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
Those who saw the One Stork coming down the St. Johns River on Tuesday and could safely take a photo are encouraged to share it on social media using the hashtag #FoundONE.