Effective early September 2022, global ocean carriers Sea Lead Shipping Pte Ltd and T.S. Lines will make JAXPORT the first U.S. port of call on their Asia East Coast (AEC) container service. The AEC, a partnership between Singapore-based Sea Lead and Hong Kong-based T.S. Lines, began calling JAXPORT this summer with Jacksonville as the last U.S. port of call.
The current AEC rotation calls ports in the Northeast U.S. and mid-Atlantic before moving south and ending in Jacksonville. Beginning in September, Sea Lead and T.S. Lines will reverse the current rotation and make Jacksonville the AEC’s first U.S. port of call. The new port rotation will be Nansha, Ningbo, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China; Busan, South Korea; Manzanillo, Mexico; Jacksonville, Fla.; Charleston, SC; Norfolk, Va.; and Newark, NJ.
The AEC also offers extensive transshipment connections throughout China, Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent.
Serving as the first port of call will significantly increase Sea Lead’s cargo volumes into JAXPORT and eliminate a week of transit time for Jacksonville importers, providing one of the fastest transit times between the Southeast U.S. and Asian ports. Shorter transits reduce wait times for Florida consumers impacted by supply chain disruption at out-of-state ports and provide export capabilities for Florida businesses seeking to efficiently export their goods to the global economy.
"Jacksonville’s 47-foot harbor and uncongested facilities allow our vessels to arrive fully loaded, which provides greater flexibility for the volume and type of cargo we can move through JAXPORT,” said Cas Pouderoyen, Sea Lead’s Managing Director, Americas. “Our vessels can work immediately upon arrival in Jacksonville due to no berth congestion there, providing enhanced schedule reliability on the East Coast.”
“We’re proud of the partnerships we’re building with Sea Lead and T.S. Lines,” said JAXPORT CEO Eric Green. “Our deepwater shipping channel, unmatched terminal operating efficiencies, and strong transportation network allow us to serve the needs of today’s ocean carriers and shippers while providing supply chain security for our state and nation.”
The AEC service calls the SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal (JCT) at JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal every two weeks. The service moves a variety of consumer goods through JAXPORT, such as furniture, clothing, and auto parts, while providing export capabilities for raw materials such as forest products and clay.
Anchored by the recently completed 47-foot harbor deepening project, more than half a billion dollars in infrastructure enhancements have been recently completed or are currently underway to improve container handling capabilities at Blount Island. Enhancements include the addition of three new eco-friendly container cranes, phased yard improvements to add container capacity at the SSA JCT, and the recent completion of berth upgrades to allow Blount Island to simultaneously accommodate two post-Panamax ships.
Located in the heart of the Southeast U.S., JAXPORT is Florida’s No. 1 container port by volume and one of the nation’s top vehicle-handling ports. Jacksonville offers two-way ship traffic with no berth or terminal congestion and same-day access to 98 million U.S. consumers.
