In two years, the Port of Jacksonville has gone from having no Asian container carriers to having eight.
The Port of Jacksonville’s newest weekly shipping service … starting in mid-May via the Suez Canal, doesn’t call on any ports between Southeast Asia and the East Coast of North America, a “strong statement on how robust trade [operators] believe it is or will be,” said an international trade analyst.
Since the service calls on Southeast Asian ports, it’s faster for the service to go through the Suez Canal than the soon-to-be expanded Panama Canal. Which U.S. and foreign ports are included in the service speaks well of Jacksonville’s growing role in Asian container trade, said Roy Schleicher, the authority’s chief commercial officer. “Two years ago we didn’t have” any Asian container service, Schleicher said. “Now we’ve got eight carriers to Asia.”
Suez and Panama canal officials say they don’t compete, but for certain markets they do. That competition will drive down the rates they charge, making calling on East Coast ports even more attractive.