Port Tampa Bay handles new project cargo for Embraer

The Brazilian jet manufacturer imported components destined for its executive jet assembly plant in Melbourne via NYK RoRo service.    Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer S.A. has induced NYK Line’s North-South roll-on/roll-off service to begin calling Port Tampa Bay, according to port and company officials. 
   The ocean carrier’s loop made its inaugural visit to the western Florida port on March 18, where it offloaded crates of components destined for Embraer’s executive jet assembly plant in Melbourne, Fla.
   Embraer’s campus is located at Melbourne International Airport, on the East Coast of Florida. It consists of an 80,000-square foot assembly and paint facility for Phenom 100 and 300 business jets, a customer center and an engineering and technology center. The facility is scheduled to begin making Legacy series aircraft in 2016.
   The cargo crates are stored on heavy-duty trailers at the Port of Santos in Brazil, driven off the vessel in Tampa by a tractor and trucked across the state to the Embraer facility.
   NYK’s North-South service has two vessels on the following rotation: Zarate, Argentina (near Buenos Aries); Paranagua, Brazil; Santos, Brazil; Vitoria, Brazil (southbound only); Cartagena, Colombia; Manzanillo International Terminal, Panama; Veracruz, Mexico; Houston; and Tampa. The order of Gulf ports is sometimes switched depending on customer needs and some ports are skipped while others are occasionally added for individual sailings, according to NYK’s website.
   Port Tampa Bay and NYK are promoting the service to other importers, as well as exporters.
   Embraer eventually intends to use other ports in Florida to handle its import needs, but specific plans have been made yet, a company representative said in an e-mail.
   Port Canaveral is situated near Melbourne and officials there are eyeing potential Embraer business for their new container terminal, scheduled to open later this year.