Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s annual docking of “Kismet” in downtown generates $212 a day for the city when it charges him for tying up the huge yacht along the Northbank Riverwalk.
The docking site near the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront hotel and the Main Street bridge is a go-to spot for larger vessels when they make stops in downtown Jacksonville.
The city charges Khan the standard rate in its fee schedule based on the length of the vessel. That rate is 50 cents per foot per day. Kismet spans about 400 feet in length.
It’s by far the biggest yacht to dock at that site. The only competition in that category is the previous yachts owned by Khan. But Jacksonville is no stranger to the sight of huge ships in that part of the St. Johns River.
When Jacksonville hosted the Super Bowl in 2005 and used cruise ships as “floating hotels” for visitors, a 565-foot long Seven Seas Navigator cruise ship docked along that stretch of the riverwalk. Jacksonville brought in cruise ships to hit the number of hotel rooms required by the NFL for a Super Bowl host city.
Carnival Cruise Lines uses a JaxPort terminal just west of the Dames Point bridge for its big cruise ships so they don’t go as far up river as downtown. But the area near the Hyatt Regency hotel has been used by smaller 220-foot long cruise ships sailed by American Cruise Lines when they have stopped in Jacksonville.
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The 453 foot long U.S. Navy frigate USS Stephen W. Groves floats at its dock on the St. Johns River in front of the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Jacksonville on Oct. 12, 2008. The ship was in downtown to help celebrate the U.S. Navy’s 233rd anniversary and was open for tours to the public.
Jacksonville also has welcomed military ships to that spot.
The 453-foot long USS Stephen W. Groves was open for public tours when it docked at that spot in October 2008 for the celebration of the 233rd anniversary of the U.S. Navy and the 20th anniversary of the Jacksonville Navy Memorial.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Shad Khan paying standard city docking fee for Kismet yacht
