On Wednesday afternoon, the MSC Catania gracefully slid up to its berth at Jacksonville’s Blount Island Terminal.  The 983-foot, 4,900 TEU vessel represents the largest ship to ever call upon the port.  The large vessel did have to come in “light” due to the restrictive depth of the channel.  She will also not be part of a regular rotation at the port, as she was filling in for another vessel that ran aground.  Jacksonville hopes to be able to allocate a portion of the Stimulus funds to further deepen the channel to 40-feet.  The arrival of such a large ship is a momentous day for Jacksonville as they work towards becoming a major est coast player.

“You’re getting a snapshot of what Jacksonville can be,” said Rick Ferrin, the Jacksonville Port Authority’s executive director.

As large as the MSC Catania is, she is still medium size by today’s standards.  The MSC Catania is 300 meters long and 37.8 meters wide, drawing 14 meters.  As a comparison, the Emma Maersk, one of the largest container vessels in the world, is 397 meters long and 56 meters wide and draws 15.5 meters.  Even today, larger ships are being built.  Even with the additional dredging, Jacksonville has a long way to go before the Emma Maersk graces their terminals.

On January 13th, 2009 the TraPac Container Terminal at Dames Point in Jacksonville greeted its first ship.  The CMA CGM Virginia was the first calling vessel.  This represents a momentous day for the Port of Jacksonville and officially adds another player to the roster of East Coast Ports.

The Navy this week announced that it has decided to home port a carrier at Naval Station Mayport in Florida.  Currently, the entire carrier fleet is stationed at Naval facilities in Hampton Roads.  The Navy’s motivation behind the move is to diversify the fleet and prevent a Pearl Harbour type incident from diminishing our retaliatory abilities.

The decision was met with significant opposition from Virginia lawmakers who vow to continue the fight to keep the carrier fleet in Virginia.  They claim that this is a politically motivated last minute effort by the Bush administration to push this through before they leave the office.  Consequently, they have begun to pressure the incoming Obama administration to reconsider the decision.  As you would expect, Florida lawmakers support the decision and call it critical to the security of America.

To compound the issue, the decision comes at a time when the Naval has its own budgetary issues to contend with and moving a carrier isn’t cheap.  In the five years that it will take to complete the move, the Navy would have to spend over $550 million to prepare the Mayport facility and channel for a ship of this size.  In addition, it will remove 11,000 jobs and $600 million in annual income from the Hampton Roads economy.

If the safety of the fleet is truly the primary concern, I would think the $550 million could buy some significant surface to air defenses for the Hampton Roads area.  Plus, any spending on protecting the fleet in its current location could be allocated across the entire fleet, not just one carrier.