GSL partners with Moran Iron Works to build short sea ships

Green Shipping Line is eyeing potential cargo shipping routes on the U.S. Atlantic Coast and in the Lake Erie region.    Green Shipping Line, a company that is seeking to develop short sea shipping in the U.S., said this week that it has signed an agreement with Moran Iron Works, a Onaway, Mich.-based metal fabrication company to “pursue marine construction projects in the United States.”
   Percy R. Pyne IV, founding partner of Green Shipping Line said, “Together, we will build a fleet of state of the art, energy efficient, Jones Act feeder/short sea vessels for US coastal trade.”
   Neither company was immediately available to provide additional information, but GSL’s website describe three proposed routes between:

• New York/New Jersey, Boston, and New Bedford, Mass.
• Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia and New Bedford
• Monroe, Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, and Port Colborne, all on Lake Erie.

   New York-based GSL said it is “in the process of facilitating the construction of a fleet of modern, fuel efficient Jones Act feeder vessels that offer shippers reliable, economic and frequent transport for containers and trailered cargoes between US ports.”
   Several years ago, Pyne, a New York real estate investor, along with German shipowner Tobias König, tried to create a short sea shipping company called American Feeder Lines. The carrier did establish a shipping service between Halifax, Boston, and Portland, Maine, which was folded after a year and did not succeed in getting a coastal service in the U.S.
   Moran describes itself as a national leader in custom modular steel fabrication, specializing in work for marine, power, mining, and other industries.
   The company also announced this week it has signed an agreement to collaborate with a Dutch firm, Central Industry Group (CIG), to pursue shipbuilding projects in order to serve customers throughout the U.S. CIG has companies in Groningen, in the Netherlands as well as Bremen and Stralsund, Germany and Shanghai.
   “The agreement paves the way for a new era of marine fabrication on the Great Lakes and throughout the United States,” Tom Moran, CEO and founder of MIW, said of the deal. “CIG has decades of experience blending marine architecture, modular construction, and marine systems integration. Their proven methods along with our productivity and innovation will result in a competitive advantage for our clients over conventional marine fabrication.”