The unanimous vote gives the liner operator, a subsidiary of diversified US shipowner Crowley Maritime, a lease renewal that will expand its footprint from 12 acres to 50 acres at the Talleyrand Marine Terminal in Jacksonville.
Crowley, which is headquartered in the city, plans to move its Jones Act container ro-ro (conro) service to Puerto Rico from its current private facility on Jacksonville harbour.
The move means the terminal will be the mainland home of Crowley’s LNG-fuelled conros under construction at VT Halter shipyard.
The ships are due in 2017, the same year that the lease for the expanded facilities begins. The 20-year lease has two additional 10-year optional terms.
“Concluding this lease agreement is an important milestone for Crowley as we look to transition to state-of-the-art, Commitment-class ships, which will require terminal space like this to allow us to perform both lift-on/lift-off and roll-on/roll-off cargo operations,” said John Hourihan, Crowley’s senior vice president and general manager.
Neither side disclosed the price tag on the transaction.
Crowley plans to continue to use its terminal for container barge services until those are phased out with the arrival of the conros.
