DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. — The biggest trade ship to dock in JAXPORT arrived Monday night.
The cargo ship is more than three football fields long and carries 65,000 tons of cargo. It couldn't come in at full capacity, which is why JAXPORT and TraPac want to deepen the harbor by 7 feet.
Nancy Rubin with JAXPORT said, "Really the biggest ship to ever call on this region."
The cargo ship had to stop at two other deeper ports before hitting JAXPORT.
"Twenty-thousand tons of cargo was off-loaded somewhere else," said Rubin.
TraPac and JAXPORT are hoping to deepen the port by seven feet so that more cargo can be moved in and out, which could create more jobs.
However making JAXPORT a gateway port won't come easy. TraPac general manager Dennis Kelley estimates a price tag of $700 million to deepen the harbor.
JAXPORT wants the dredging project finished by 2020 and are are counting on federal, state and local funding.