Crowley adds barge service to Puerto Rico

Service will help meet additional demand in the wake of Horizon Lines departure.    Crowley Liner Services said a new flat-deck barge capable of carrying up to 400 loads was expected to arrive in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Monday.
   The company said the barge will supplement its regular service between the commonwealth and the U.S. mainland.
   Crowley said the barge was put into service as part of its response to the departure of Horizon Lines from the Puerto Rico trade at the end of 2014.
   Since mid-December, Crowley has, through a number of service enhancements, created additional weekly cargo carrying capacity for about 780 loads – or 78 percent of the 1,000 loads previously transported by Horizon Lines in an average week.
   “Before Horizon left the trade, we had, on average, about 230 empty container slots each week on Crowley vessels,” explained Jose “Pache” Ayala, Crowley vice president, Puerto Rico. “That space has been absorbed by customers. In mid-December, we structurally modified our barge layouts to optimize the stow factor, which generated enough new capacity for another 100 loads a week. Then on Jan. 15, we began running our vessels at an accelerated speed, which increased our frequency of service and weekly cargo capacity by another 250 loads. And most recently, we deployed the new flat-deck barge, which will arrive every other week in Puerto Rico – effectively increasing capacity by 200 loads per week.”
   In addition to increasing weekly cargo carrying capacity, Crowley has ordered and begun placing into service more than 6,500 pieces of new cargo handling equipment, including 40-foot, 45-foot and 48-foot high cube containers, 20-foot ISO tanks and a variety of fixed and slider chassis.
   Sea Star Line has also supplemented its service to the island by adding a weekly container barge service between Jacksonville, Fla., and San Juan.
   “We completely understand that there has been some stress on the island’s supply chain given the abrupt departure of Horizon Lines from the market,” said John Hourihan, Crowley senior vice president and general manager. “We have responded aggressively to replace the void they left, and are confident that current concerns will be short lived and that the island’s overall supply chain will be back to normal very soon.”