JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference at JAXPORT Friday, where he announced that a global shipping company will be moving some operations to Jacksonville.
Sea Lead Shipping, is moving part of its operations from California to the "wonderfully efficient and less crowded" JAXPORT, DeSantis said.
"Sea Lead is now positioned to reach more than 98 million U.S. consumers within one day without the hassle of unnecessary delays that we've see in other seaports around the country," DeSantis said.
The company is headquartered in Singapore. JAXPORT says the added business will bring 200-300 new jobs at a rough salary of $70,000 to the port. It adds that cargo activity through JAXPORT generates $31 billion in economic impact on Florida. A number that will increase with the addition of Sea Lead ships.
"By positioning Jacksonville as an alternative gateway on the east coast we are creating more jobs economic opportunity and supply chain security for our region and state," JAXPORT CEO, Eric Green, said.
DeSantis says the company has been looking for a way to avoid the congestion and backlogs they have been facing in Long Beach, and they chose JAXPORT.
"I just wanna say I'm excited to be here for the announcement, I don't think Sea Lead could have picked a better place than here in JAXPORT and I know that this is going to be the beginning of I'm sure a very productive relationship," said DeSantis.
The latest move from Sea Lead adds to its existing services that cover Far East to US, India, Middle East, Mediterranean, Oceania and Europe, and will see further expansion in the near future.
When west coast ports were congested in the fall, DeSantis called for shipping containers to consider diverting ships to JAXPORT. Given the ports capacity and harbor deepening project that is scheduled to be completed soon. It's a relationship Sea Lead envisions for the future.
"We are hoping that we will be able to take this in a long mutually beneficial relationship with the Port of Jacksonville and the city and State of Florida," Sea Lead representative, Pramod Raj, said.
Sea Lead will bring ships to JAXPORT every two weeks starting on May 7 with its first ship, Hakuna Matata.
Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry also joined DeSantis for the announcement.