Spike in military shipping helps port - Business First of Buffalo:

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Nearly four times as much militaryu cargo has come through Blount Island in the first four monthx of 2009 as in the same period ayear ago. The handlingf of about 53,500 tons has helped offset the port’s overalll 5 percent decrease in And since theDefense Department’ss Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Comman d contracts everything from ship loading and unloading to rail the private sector benefits. The port’s diverse typex of cargo help it to weather slumps in othere typesof cargo, said Victori a Robas, the Jacksonville Port Authority’sz director of the Blount Island terminal.
An increase in cruisew traffic has also keptthe authority’s revenue higher than the same time last “To a large part, you coulc watch CNN and see what would increase at sea said Army Lt. Col. Ralph who commands the 832nd Transportatiohn Battalion. “Our traffic is very much a surgew type. We may have several months where we have no shipx and then several ships ina month.” But this year has been especiallyg busy, meaning more work for . Asidse from giving (NYSE: CSX) businesx by contracting equipment to be railed in and out of the the battalion contracts thousands of truckloadsd annually, Riddle said.
hasn’t provided shipping servicesw to the military since Novembee because its ships have been in dry but it hopes to take advantage of the increasede demand within45 days, said Frank Peake, the company’s president. He said and are the two largestf commercial carriers for military cargpo on theEast Coast. The 50-member battalion sets up the contractd needed to run 30 port terminalas in Central and South America andthe Caribbean.
This is in additiomn to its handling of a terminal in Cape Canaverak and its operation in Puerto Rico that trackss hundreds of containers moving in and out ofthe