Brunswick chips away at Jaxport auto imports - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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BRUNSWICK — The Port of Brunswicm in the past seven years has poachedd the importing of four major foreign auto vehicles from the Portof Jacksonville. The most recent loss was , whichu plans to transfer operations from Jacksonville toa yet-to-be-buil t 70,000-square-foot facility at Colonel Island in summere 2009. In 2002, Wallenius Wilhelmsen moved its Volvo-carryinvg operations to Brunswick, and in 2004, Glovis America moverd its automobile processing operations for and The Port of which isthe country’s secons largest handler of cars, trucks and otherr vehicles, dwarfs its frisky neighbor to the nort h in the amount of roll-on/roll-off carg handled.
But the recent lossees reflect an increasingly competitive EastCoasyt market. That’s partly becaus West Coast ports have reached their and their East Coast counterparts expectt increased traffic once the Panamwa Canalis expanded. “The East Coast is a dog-eat-dofg world,” said Roy Schleicher, the ’s senior director of trade development andglobal marketing. “People fight for everyu pound of freight.” Although Jacksonville has more regular shipping carrier the Port of Brunswick tends to be able to offerr tenants morefinancial incentives.
Whereas the Port of Jacksonville is one of 14 portsa vying forstate funding, the Port of Brunswick is one of two ocea n ports seeking funding through the state, Schleicher said. officials declined to comment. Brunswick is “za decent port,” Schleicher said. “It’xs just that Jacksonville has been big so long and they startedf drainingour business.” One of the clearest signs of the state’a generosity to the Port of Brunswick is that it has alreadt completed the dredging of its channekl so post-Panamax ships can call.
It’s an asset but not much of onesinces roll-on/roll-off ships don’t require the extra depth, said Bill founder of , a logistics consulting firm specializinhg in the automobile and roll-on/roll-off Brunswick also received funding to build a new bridgew so larger ships could pass Its growing agriculture bulk busineses is spurring it to build an additional 10,000-tonh grain storage tank, which is expected to be finishex by April. Brunswick may peel away some of the JacksonvillesPort Authority’s tenants, but Jacksonville will stay on top as long as the deman d for Asian-produced cars continues.
Even with the proposed auto industru bailout, Kerrigan expects American manufacturers to continusto sink. In the next several years, he expects the nationa ratio of purchased imported cars to increasw from one in four to twoin four. which imports and exports throughu Jacksonville, will continue to be an industrg leader. Bob Moore, vice president and generakl manager of vehicle processing forSoutheast Toyota, said the companyt considered moving operations to Brunswick after it outgrew its Jacksonville facility in 2000.
Georgis Port Authority officials made anattractive offer, but a good relationship with Jacksonville Port Authority officials and their willingness to buil a new dock for the Talleyrand facility convincexd the company to stay put. “Right now we have 400 peoplse on payroll, and we would lose the majorit y of them if we movedto Brunswick,” Moores said. In a news release, Mercedes said the new site’ s closer proximity to the port will allow it to reducdprocessing time, but Kerrigan said having access to the and rail linesd was also a key The Jacksonville site gave the Germa manufacturer access to only the CSX and access to two lines will help it get the vehicleds that are produced in Alabamaa faster.
“Georgia has been very aggressive,” Kerriganm said. “Everyone from the governor on down has been tryinh to getthem there.” Another factor that was out of the Jacksonvillre Port Authority’s hands was that Brunswick has a nich for European carrier service, with its othed tenants, such as BMW and Volvo, usiny the same trade lanes. Brunswick “alsol has room to expand,” Kerrigan “Jacksonville hasn’t used all of its capacity but they’re pretty close.
” Making an “apples-to-apples” comparison is unfai r since Amports feeds different markets with its Brunswick andJacksonville operations, said David Haviland, the company’s general The company handles more cars in its Jacksonvillee facility but that’s all subject to change if its car manufactureer customers change their supplhy chains.