JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - JAXPORT will soon offer direct service to New Zealand and Australia for roll-on/roll-off (Ro/Ro) cargo through Höegh Autoliners’ new U.S. to Oceania direct express Ro/Ro service. JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal will serve as the last East Coast port of call in the rotation.

The monthly service is scheduled to begin in March with the first vessel, the 6,500-CEU (car capacity) Höegh Jeddah, sailing out of Jacksonville. Vessel rotation will include Auckland in New Zealand as well as Brisbane, Port Kembla, Melbourne and Fremantle in Australia. Horizon Terminal Services, Höegh Autoliners’ fully owned terminal owning and operating company headquartered in Jacksonville, will provide fumigation and wash down services at Blount Island. Jacksonville is one of the nation’s busiest ports for total vehicle handling, moving a record-setting 693,000 total units in 2017. Construction has begun on a new automobile processing terminal on JAXPORT’s Dames Point Marine Terminal, the first phase of a multi-year project which will increase the port’s vehicle-handling capacity by 25 percent.