JAXPORT memorial scholarship honors COO who shaped port expansion

JAXPORT leadership, the University of North Florida, and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers gathered recently with the family of late Chief Operating Officer James Bennett to dedicate a series of memorials recognizing his eight-year tenure shaping the port's infrastructure. The centerpiece: a $181,250 scholarship endowment at UNF that will fund engineering and logistics students from Northeast Florida, with preference for Bennett's home community of Baker County.

Bennett, who joined JAXPORT in 2017 and rose to COO in 2022, died earlier this year. He oversaw the port's operations and engineering departments—more than half the workforce—and led capital projects including a $100 million berth modernization, the Jacksonville Harbor Deepening Project, and expansion of container and auto-handling capacity on Blount Island. Jacksonville City Council passed a resolution in January honoring his contributions, which Council President Nick Howland presented to Bennett's family at the October ceremony.

What's being dedicated

The James Bennett Memorial Endowed Scholarship at UNF has raised $181,250 from nearly 80 donors, including JAXPORT tenants TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, Crowley, Trailer Bridge, Enstructure, SSA Marine, Southeast Toyota Distributors, and AMPORTS, as well as the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Propeller Club—Port of Jacksonville, and individual contributors.

Junior- and senior-level students pursuing degrees in engineering or transportation and logistics are eligible. Recipients must be from the five-county North Florida area, demonstrate financial need, and maintain a minimum 3. 0 GPA. Preference will be given to students from Baker County. FDOT has committed to offering each scholarship recipient a paid internship, providing hands-on experience during their studies.

A paver bearing Bennett's name will be placed near the front of UNF's Student Union in February 2027, reading: "In memory of James Bennett, servant leader who led with heart and lifted us all. "

At Blount Island Marine Terminal, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers presented Bennett's family with a survey marker bearing his name, which will be installed at Auto Berth 21 as a permanent marker of his work on the terminal. "James was an extraordinary engineer. His technical mastery, vision and problem solving were world class," said USACE Jacksonville District Senior Project Manager and Acting Branch Chief Jason Harrah.

The JAXPORT Board has formally named a new roadway and entrance at Blount Island "James Bennett Way. " Colleagues had informally called the project the "James Bennett Highway" even before his death. The project, which Bennett spearheaded, will reduce congestion at the terminal's main gate, and a plaque will be displayed at the new security plaza.

The projects Bennett led

Bennett joined JAXPORT in 2017 as Senior Director of Engineering and Construction after spending more than 20 years with FDOT, including serving as Planning Manager for District Two. He was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2022, overseeing operations and engineering, the port's two largest departments.

His portfolio included the Jacksonville Harbor Deepening Project, which Bennett coordinated closely with the Army Corps of Engineers. The effort created a 47-foot-deep shipping channel, allowing the port to handle larger, more heavily loaded cargo vessels—a capability critical to competing for post-Panamax container traffic and supporting Jacksonville's growing auto-import trade.

He also managed a $100 million berth modernization program, improvements to the JAXPORT Cruise Terminal, and the expansion of Blount Island's container and auto-handling facilities. Blount Island is the port's largest terminal by acreage and handles the bulk of its container and roll-on/roll-off vehicle cargo.

The James Bennett Way project addresses a longstanding bottleneck: a single entrance choke point at Blount Island Marine Terminal, where truck traffic and employee commutes converge during shift changes. The new roadway and security plaza are designed to split the flow, improving safety and reducing wait times for the drayage truckers who move containers between the terminal and warehouses across Northeast Florida.

How the scholarship fits the port's workforce challenge

The scholarship addresses a concrete gap in the regional pipeline for maritime and logistics professionals. JAXPORT is one of the largest employers in Duval County, and the port's recent expansions—new berths, deeper channels, and expanded container capacity—have increased demand for engineers, terminal planners, and logistics specialists.

UNF is the primary four-year engineering school in the Jacksonville metro and has longstanding ties to JAXPORT and the broader transportation sector. Bennett himself frequently spoke to UNF engineering classes, building relationships that led colleagues and tenants to propose a scholarship following his death.

By requiring recipients to be from the five-county North Florida area and giving preference to Baker County students, the scholarship targets a demographic often underrepresented in engineering: rural students who may have limited access to STEM programs and face financial barriers to four-year degrees. Baker County, one of Florida's least populous and most rural counties, borders Duval to the west and has no four-year college.

FDOT's commitment to provide paid internships for scholarship recipients adds a career-pathway component. Florida's transportation agencies—FDOT, regional port authorities, and transit agencies like JTA—routinely face hiring challenges as senior engineers retire. Internships serve as recruitment pipelines, exposing students to public-sector careers and Northeast Florida projects before graduation.

"Years from now, a student will sit in a classroom, or walk a terminal, because of a man they never met. And they will go on to build something," said UNF Interim President Dr. Angela Garcia Falconetti at the ceremony.

What the memorial roadway means for Blount Island operations

The James Bennett Way project is a landside infrastructure upgrade with daily operational effects. Blount Island Marine Terminal handles containers, automobiles, and roll-on/roll-off cargo, generating thousands of truck trips per week as freight moves from the terminal to regional distribution centers and rail yards.

Currently, a single entrance funnels all traffic—employees, drayage trucks, chassis haulers, and visitors—through one security checkpoint. During peak hours, especially during shift changes or when vessels are being worked, queues can back up onto Heckscher Drive, the two-lane access road that also serves recreational users heading to the Timucuan Preserve and Fort George Island.

The second entrance and security plaza will divide traffic by type—likely separating employee and visitor access from commercial truck movements—reducing bottleneck delays and improving security screening efficiency. For drayage companies and logistics operators, reduced gate wait times translate directly to cost savings: drivers spend less time idling, and equipment turns more quickly.

The project also positions Blount Island for further expansion. JAXPORT has invested heavily in the terminal in recent years, adding container cranes, expanding paved auto-storage lots, and modernizing berths to handle larger vessels. As throughput grows—JAXPORT has been posting record container and vehicle volumes—gate capacity becomes a constraint. A second entrance removes that bottleneck before it chokes growth.

The plaque at the new security plaza will acknowledge Bennett's role in anticipating that constraint. "James understood that infrastructure is about more than concrete and pavement," said JAXPORT CEO Eric Green. "It is about connecting people, improving safety and preparing our port for the future. "

The broader context: JAXPORT's evolution

Bennett's tenure coincided with a period of rapid investment at JAXPORT. The harbor deepening project, completed during his time, was the largest single infrastructure improvement in the port's modern history, transforming Jacksonville from a mid-depth port constrained to smaller vessels into a deep-draft competitor for the largest container ships calling the U. S. East Coast.

That deepening has paid dividends: JAXPORT has posted consecutive years of record cargo volumes, driven by container growth and a booming auto-import business. Southeast Toyota Distributors, one of the scholarship donors, uses JAXPORT as a primary import gateway, and the port has become a hub for break-bulk project cargo and refrigerated containers serving the regional food-distribution network.

The cruise terminal improvements Bennett managed positioned Jacksonville to attract larger cruise ships. Norwegian Gem, which Bennett photographed from aboard the vessel, was part of that expansion. JAXPORT leadership presented the Bennett family with a framed copy of the photo—showing cranes, equipment, and reinforced pavement—surrounded by signatures from the port team. "It is a remarkable image because it shows JAXPORT through James' eyes: a port he helped build, photographed from a ship he helped bring here," Green said.

The scholarship, the roadway, and the survey marker ensure Bennett's legacy is embedded not only in the infrastructure he delivered but in the people who will maintain and expand it. "Hearing you talk about his accomplishments reminds us of what we always knew to be true. He didn't just come to work—he put his heart into it," his daughter Cloey said at the ceremony. "On behalf of me and my family, thank you for loving my dad, respecting him and his work, and keeping his legacy alive in such a beautiful way. "

How to contribute

Donations to the James Bennett Memorial Endowed Scholarship can still be made through UNF at https://gift. unf. edu/campaign/833740/donate. The scholarship will begin awarding funds once the endowment is fully established, with the first recipients expected in the 2027–2028 academic year.

The paver dedication at UNF's Student Union is scheduled for February 2027. Construction of James Bennett Way at Blount Island Marine Terminal is underway, with completion expected in the coming months. The survey marker at Auto Berth 21 will be installed following the berth's final commissioning work.

Together, the memorials tie Bennett's work directly to the infrastructure and workforce needs that will define Northeast Florida's port economy for decades—deepened channels, modernized terminals, and a pipeline of local engineers trained to design and manage the next generation of projects.