The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District presented JAXPORT with a US$35 million refund for unused prepayments from the recently completed Jacksonville Harbor Deepening project.
JAXPORT is actively working with the City of Jacksonville and the State of Florida. Both of them contributed funding toward the project, to determine their share of the refund amount as outlined in the project agreements.
Completed in May 2022, the project deepened 11 miles of the federal shipping channel to 14 metres from its previous depth of 12 metres, allowing bigger ships to call JAXPORT and existing ships calling Jacksonville to carry more cargo on board.
Meanwhile, a total of US$420 million was contributed upfront toward the project’s construction, and its original estimated cost was US$484 million.
The US$35 million refund results from project savings due to dredging provider bids coming in lower than forecasted. Additionally, securing funding on schedule enabled all three phases to be seamlessly completed, allowing the project to finish ahead of schedule.
The federal government funded half of the project’s total cost and is receiving a separate refund from the US$35 million presented to JAXPORT this week.
