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Senator Marco Rubio speaks to the Jacksonville Port Authority about supply chain capabilities

Senator Marco Rubio is in Jacksonville to see how the Jacksonville Port Authority is set up to meet the supply chain demands of the region. The Florida senator held a roundtable with shipping experts to listen to the needs and capabilities of the port.

“I think that America is a country that has learned a lot about supply chains in the last few years. It’s always been important, but now I think we’re seeing it, and there’s some real exciting opportunities for the country, which I think are exciting for JaxPort as well,” Senator Rubio says.

Rubio says the layout of Jacksonville and the St. Johns River is perfectly designed to help meet the shipping industry’s needs.

Rubio says, “There’s already some inherent advantages. Whether it’s the two-way traffic, on the way in and out, which other ports don’t have. Whether it’s the depth to accomplish these Panama Canal capable vessels that was drudging work that was preexisting and ongoing from beforehand. So these are already existing things that are available. I think frankly, it’s about continuing to build their capacity so they become an alternative.”

The senator also says that the pandemic put Jacksonville on the radar of the shipping industry when other bigger ports could no longer continue to support the supply chain backlog, due to a lack of personnel.

“If you are in the shipping business, and you’ve built your entire business model off of making something in China and bringing it to California, there was really no reason for you to change it, Rubio says. “The pandemic caused you to now look around and say where else can we go. And the fact that JaxPort is here with the capabilities - the under-utilized capabilities - to meet their demands.”

Rubio says that Jacksonville has a unique layout that can help the supply chain demand, including the two-way traffic of the St. johns river and the intersection of 1-95 and 1-10 that can get goods to 100 million customers in one day.

However, the shortage of truckers is still a continued problem, according to the shipping experts of JaxPort.


Sheifalika Bhatnagar

Sheifalika Bhatnagar, News 104.5 WOKV

Sheifalika Bhatnagar is WOKV's morning traffic and news reporter. She is a University of North Florida graduate with a degree in Communication, focused on Multimedia Production and Journalism.

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