JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Highly trained master riggers moved two specially upgraded AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters through JAXPORT's heavy lift and specialty cargo berth at Blount Island Marine Terminal, one of the nation’s highest capacity weight-bearing docks.

The aircraft are part of a group of helicopters that first moved through JAXPORT beginning in 2015 en route to the Science and Engineering Services' manufacturing and aircraft modification facility in Alabama where they were upgraded with state-of-the-art technology.

The helicopters are 50 feet in length, weigh more than 7,000 pounds apiece and are worth $6 million each. The aircraft are on their way to the Middle East for use by a U.S. government ally in the region.

Pilots landed the helicopters onto Horizon Terminal Services’ outdoor storage facility at Blount Island, where the company’s stevedores loaded the aircraft onto wheeled platforms before rolling them onto the Höegh Autoliners ro/ro vessel Höegh Transporter. New Jersey-based freight forwarder and Customs broker Serra International, Inc. oversaw the move.

The heavy lift cargo berth at JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal offers up to 1,800 pounds per square foot of load capacity with rail capability up to 78 kips per axle for heavy cargo. JAXPORT also has the highest and widest cargo clearance available for port access by rail on CSX’s national system: 20 feet high and 13 feet wide.

The port offers worldwide cargo service, including direct service with Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, South America, the Caribbean and other key markets.