Jumping Jax.(Port of Jacksonville )

BYLINE: BY PETER T. LEACH

The Port of Jacksonville is swinging for the fences. Long a second-tier port for auto imports and the container trade with Puerto Rico, Jacksonville is now positioned to vault into the ranks of the top East Coast container ports as a result of the preliminary agreement it reached this month that calls for Hanjin Shipping Co. to build a 1 million-TEU-a-year container terminal.

Hanjin will be the second

Asian carrier to build a container terminal at the Florida port. TraPac, the terminal-operating arm of Japan's MOL also is building an 800,000-TEU terminal. There may be more: The Jacksonville Port Authority is said to be negotiating with a third private terminal operator, although no official announcement has been made.

"We've been after Hanjin for a long time," said Rick Ferrin, Jaxport's executive director. "They started to get …