Among Piers: Container record, terminal opening and COVID-19 vaccines
Berth announcement and more good news from Texas, South Carolina and Florida ports
0 31 3 minutes read The Hugh K. Leatherman Terminal has opened at the Port of Charleston in South Carolina. (Photo: English Purcell/SCPA)
Port Houston
Container moves at Port Houston in March climbed 20% year-over-year and set a monthly record.
Port Houston handled 297,397 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in March compared to 248,840 TEUs in the same month last year. The March figure is the highest monthly total ever, surpassing the record set in October by 1,187 TEUs.
“We are seeing significant increases in cargo,” Port Houston Executive Director Roger Guenther said in a statement this week. “As container demand surges across our docks, our terminals remain efficient and free of congestion to provide the best service levels to our customers.”
The analysis shows 3,904 of the jobs would be direct jobs from companies doing the work on 72 road, drainage and transit projects totaling $930 million.
Beyond those direct jobs, the analysis factored in indirect job creation at businesses providing supplies and services used by companies doing the transportation projects, plus the impact on other businesses that will benefit when workers spend their paychecks from Jobs for Jax projects.
The number of indirect jobs is 1,867 and the number of induced jobs is 1,869 in the study.
The total impact of 7,640 jobs covers the five-county metropolitan area of Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau and Baker counties, according to the study by UNF economics professor Chung-Ping A Loh.
Temporary homeless shelter in Downtown Jacksonville closing Wednesday
The bridge shelter, which opened March 9, was meant to last 30 days. Fencing was installed along the perimeter of the former tent city to keep homeless people out. Author: Troy Kless (First Coast News), Mindy Wadley Published: 6:21 PM EDT April 6, 2021 Updated: 8:18 PM EDT April 6, 2021
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
A temporary homeless shelter in Downtown Jacksonville is set to close Wednesday.
The City of Jacksonville opened the shelter after a homeless camp downtown grew out of control. City staff say all of the 150 people in the bridge shelter were offered a bed in another shelter, a hotel room or other housing.
As Jacksonville eyes doubling its gas tax, residents are still waiting to see construction completed on major road work promised when City Council extended that same gas tax in 2014.
Most of the work on that list has either been done or is under way, but the Jacksonville Transportation Authority expects it will be 2024 before all the construction wraps up by closing out the final project in the northern end of San Pablo Road.
The original scope called for about $100 million of work but those estimates proved to be outdated and the tab has risen to around $167 million, which includes $13 million of JEA utility work added in to the projects.
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