The Maritime and Shipping Industry in Jacksonville

Jacksonville's private maritime trades in Duval County are counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics under water transportation, port and harbor support and shipbuilding codes, each with its own 2025 job, pay and establishment figures (BLS QCEW).

In Duval County the three codes count 2,226 jobs in water transportation (NAICS 483), 3,204 in support activities for water transportation (4883) and 1,211 in ship building and repairing (336611). Ocean and coastal shipping companies (4831) account for almost all of the water transportation jobs, 2,113 at 22 establishments, while inland water transportation (4832) had 113 (BLS QCEW).

These codes count private employers only. Naval Station Mayport is federal and is not in them; the Navy says the base was commissioned in December 1942 and its harbor can accommodate 34 ships, with more than 80 supported commands that include 20 naval ships (U.S. Navy, NS Mayport).

Every row: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Duval County, 2025 annual averages.

Shipping jobs pay well above the county average: private water transportation averaged $141,815 in Duval County in 2025, against $75,204 for all private work (BLS QCEW).

Jacksonville maritime pay splits sharply by role. Navigational services to shipping (48833) averaged $143,755 across 385 jobs, while marine cargo handling (48832) averaged $51,645 across 2,138 jobs (BLS QCEW). Ship building and repairing paid an average of $88,447 (BLS QCEW).

In Duval County, inland water transportation paid the least of the maritime codes in the table, $45,598, and also shrank fastest in 2025, losing 40 of its jobs, a 26.1 percent drop. Navigational services grew 4.6 percent and the wider port and harbor support group added 100 jobs, or 3.2 percent (BLS QCEW).

Yes, with listed exceptions: Florida law requires a licensed state pilot or certificated deputy pilot on board vessels entering or leaving Florida ports, and it names Jacksonville as one of those ports (Florida Statutes 310.141; Florida Statutes 310.002).

For Jacksonville and every other Florida port, section 310.141 lists the exceptions: vessels exempted by federal law, monohulled vessels drawing less than 7 feet of water, certain multihulled or nondisplacement vessels under 6,000 square feet in length times beam that also draw less than 7 feet, any vessel while docking or undocking, and moves within a shipyard or to a berth directly next to it. Even an exempt vessel can ask for a state pilot (F.S. 310.141). Section 310.002 defines the Board of Pilot Commissioners and lists Jacksonville with Fernandina, St. Augustine, Canaveral and the state's other named ports (F.S. 310.002).

One stretch of the St. Johns draws particular attention in federal records. The Corps of Engineers says all vessels bound for the Jacksonville Port Authority's terminals must pass through the Mile Point area, and that the St. Johns Bar Pilots and the Coast Guard Captain of the Port restrict vessels with drafts greater than 33 feet inbound and 36 feet outbound to transiting close to or on a flood tide. The same study warns that submerged sections of the Mile Point training wall can ground recreational boaters who do not know the area (USACE Mile Point study).

Mile Point is also where deep draft ships and small craft cross paths. The Corps says the Intracoastal Waterway crosses the St. Johns River south of the training wall at Pablo Creek and to the north at Sisters Creek, with an authorized bottom width of 125 feet at a depth of 12 feet on both sides of the river (USACE).

Crowley Maritime Corporation lists its corporate office in Jacksonville at 9487 Regency Square Blvd., phone 904-727-2200 (Crowley contact page).

Crowley's own history says it was founded in 1892, when Thomas Crowley bought an 18 foot Whitehall rowboat to ferry people and supplies to ships anchored on San Francisco Bay. Crowley now reports more than 6,300 employees worldwide, annual revenues of more than $2.5 billion and a fleet of more than 200 vessels; those are its own figures (Crowley, About). Its contact page lists services from the Jacksonville office including shipping and logistics, ocean towing, petroleum and chemical transportation and ship management, plus a main port office at 2831 Talleyrand Ave. (Crowley).

Jacksonville's Puerto Rico shipping link also runs through private carriers. TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico markets service from Jacksonville to San Juan, ships personal vehicles between Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Jacksonville, and says it introduced the first two LNG powered containerships, the Marlin class, for that trade (TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico).

Ship building and repair supports about 1,200 private jobs in Duval County: ship building and repairing (336611) averaged 1,211 jobs at 26 establishments in 2025, unchanged from 2024 (BLS QCEW).

Boat building (336612) is a much smaller trade in Duval County, with 17 jobs at 5 establishments (BLS QCEW). Naval Station Mayport, which the Navy says covers 3,409 acres and is home to 20 naval ships, is federal and outside these counts (U.S. Navy).

For a business or worker sizing up the Jacksonville industry, the table shows a few dozen establishments in each maritime code, high average pay in shipping and navigational services, and a larger, lower paid cargo handling workforce. The history of the city's shipyards is covered in the Jacksonville shipyards history guide.

Jacksonville's public tide gauge at Mayport is NOAA station 8720218, Mayport (Bar Pilots Dock), which NOAA lists as established on August 1, 1995 (NOAA Tides and Currents, station 8720218).

NOAA gives the Mayport gauge a mean tidal range of 4.53 feet and a diurnal range of 4.96 feet. Its listed water level maximum is 3.41 feet above mean higher high water, on November 10, 2022, and its minimum is 2.55 feet below mean lower low water, on March 8, 2008 (NOAA). The station page posts real time water levels and wind.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by pulling the 2025 Duval County QCEW rows for water transportation, port support and shipbuilding and rereading the Navy's Mayport page, Florida Statutes 310.002 and 310.141, the Corps of Engineers Mile Point study, NOAA's Mayport tide station page and the Crowley and TOTE pages.