Jacksonville, Florida · East Coast
Port of Jacksonville (JAXPORT) container demurrage & detention dispute guide
Three JAXPORT terminals with different operators, a major Puerto Rico trade lane and SACP chassis. Terminal-specific gates and hurricane closures drive D&D disputes.
- Authority
- Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT)
- Volume
- 1,388,841 TEU in fiscal 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025), up 4% from 1,340,412 in fiscal 2024 (Jacksonville Port Authority annual financial report)
- Container terminals
- 5
The port at a glance
JAXPORT is a landlord port: the Jacksonville Port Authority owns three marine terminals on the St. Johns River and leases them to private operators. Blount Island Marine Terminal is the largest and, according to JAXPORT, handles about 80% of the port's container cargo, mainly through the SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal operated by SSA Atlantic, which completed a $72 million modernization in 2025 that lifted capacity above 650,000 TEU a year. Dames Point Marine Terminal hosts a container terminal (formerly TraPac Jacksonville) with direct services to South America and an adjacent intermodal container transfer facility, and Talleyrand Marine Terminal near downtown handles containers, breakbulk and autos. Jacksonville is also one of the main US mainland gateways for the Puerto Rico trade.
Because each terminal has its own operator, gate rules and systems, D&D exposure in Jacksonville depends heavily on which terminal the box is at. A container discharged at Blount Island moves under different gate procedures than one at Dames Point or Talleyrand, and empty return instructions can send a driver to a different terminal from the one where the load was picked up. Jacksonville's Puerto Rico and Caribbean trades also involve trailers and containers moving on short transit times, so a one-day delay in availability can consume most of the free time.
The mistake importers make most often here is assuming one port means one set of rules. Free time, terminal storage and gate hours are set by each terminal operator and each ocean carrier, and invoices that apply the wrong terminal's availability date or ignore a terminal-specific closure are common. Under 46 CFR § 541.6, the invoice must identify the port of discharge, the container availability date and the specific dates charged, and in Jacksonville the terminal matters as much as the port.
Container terminals
SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal (Blount Island)
SSA Atlantic (SSA Marine) · 5800 William Mills Street; $72 million modernization completed in 2025, capacity above 650,000 TEU
Blount Island Marine Terminal
Jacksonville Port Authority (landlord) with private operators · JAXPORT's largest facility; containers, ro-ro, heavy lift, breakbulk and liquid bulk
Dames Point container terminal (formerly TraPac Jacksonville)
Dames Point Jacksonville (lease taken over from TraPac by Ceres Terminals under a 20-year JAXPORT agreement) · 158 acres, two 1,200-foot berths; retained by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III when Ceres was sold in 2023
Dames Point Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF)
Managed by Ceres from its 2016 opening; retained by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners III in 2023 · Adjacent to the Dames Point container terminal
Talleyrand Marine Terminal
Enstructure (Seaonus Stevedoring) · Containers, breakbulk, autos and liquid bulk; 30-year agreement signed in 2024 expands the footprint to 115 acres
Appointments & empty returns
- Each JAXPORT terminal operator runs its own gate and container status systems, and JAXPORT directs cargo questions to the ocean carrier; check the operator's portal and customer advisories (for example SSA Jacksonville's) for gate procedures on billed dates.
- SSA Jacksonville added six inbound and six outbound truck lanes as part of its 2025 modernization, and JAXPORT and SSA Atlantic have used electronic gate processing to reduce truck backups at Blount Island.
- Drivers need a TWIC and a JAXPORT credential, issued at the JAXPORT Access Control Center next to the Blount Island Main Gate.
Chassis
Jacksonville is served by the South Atlantic Chassis Pool (SACP 3.0), the single-provider gray pool managed by Consolidated Chassis Management that JAXPORT entered with the Georgia and North Carolina port authorities.
Where D&D builds up at Jacksonville.
Terminal-specific rules and closures
Blount Island, Dames Point and Talleyrand each have different operators and gate procedures. A closure or gate restriction at one terminal does not show up at the others, so availability and closure evidence must come from the terminal where the container sat.
Hurricane season
Jacksonville is exposed to Atlantic hurricanes and tropical storms between June and November, and JAXPORT and its operators close terminals ahead of storms. Closure and reopening advisories mark days that should not count against free time.
Gate congestion during construction
Gate congestion at Blount Island during the SSA modernization led JAXPORT and SSA to add alternative gates and electronic processing in 2024. Records from that period are relevant where invoices billed days drivers spent in queues.
Short-transit Caribbean and Puerto Rico trades
Fast transit times mean containers often arrive and become available quickly, and any delay in release consumes free time. Check that free time started when the container was actually available, not at vessel arrival. Note that mainland to Puerto Rico moves are domestic Jones Act trade, where Part 541 may not apply (see the Port of San Juan guide).
Labor events
SSA Jacksonville issued a customer advisory for the ILA work stoppage of October 1 to 3, 2024. Billed days during the stoppage and the backlog afterwards should be reviewed against that advisory.
Free time and disputes at Jacksonville
In Jacksonville, terminal storage is billed under each terminal operator's schedule, and carrier demurrage and detention are billed under each carrier's tariff or your service contract. Free time therefore varies by terminal, by carrier and by trade lane. Section 541.6 requires every invoice to state the rule applied, the free time in days, the start and end of free time, the container availability date, the specific dates charged and the rate. Where those elements are missing, § 541.5 means the billed party has no obligation to pay.
Then confirm the facts at the right terminal. Pull the availability and hold history from the operator where the container was discharged and compare it with the free-time start on the invoice. Compare chargeable days with that terminal's advisories for closures, gate changes and storms, and compare detention days with empty return instructions. Charges for days when cargo could not move because of a closure, a hold or a refused return are what the incentive principle in 46 CFR § 545.5 addresses.
Each invoice has its own 30-day clocks. The billing party must issue within 30 calendar days of when the charge was last incurred (§ 541.7), and you have at least 30 calendar days from issuance to request mitigation, refund or waiver (§ 541.8), with resolution due within 30 days of receipt. ATAHSKIA builds the relief request with terminal-specific evidence and, if it is not resolved, compiles a 46 U.S.C. § 41310 charge complaint for the billed party to submit to the FMC.
Jacksonville D&D FAQ
Who operates the container terminals at JAXPORT?
JAXPORT is a landlord port. SSA Atlantic operates the SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal on Blount Island, the former TraPac Jacksonville terminal at Dames Point operates under a 20-year lease originally taken over by Ceres Terminals, and Enstructure's Seaonus Stevedoring operates at Talleyrand.
Why does the terminal matter for a Jacksonville D&D dispute?
Each terminal has its own operator, gate rules and closures. The availability date and closure evidence must come from the terminal where the container actually sat, or the dispute will not line up with the invoice.
Who supplies chassis at JAXPORT?
Jacksonville is served by the South Atlantic Chassis Pool (SACP 3.0), managed by Consolidated Chassis Management, which also covers Savannah and Wilmington, NC.
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