Crowley signs contract for new pier at San Juan Terminal

The ocean carrier’s Puerto Rico facility will serve new LNG-powered con/ro vessels coming into service in 2017.    Crowley has executed a $48.5 million construction contract for a new pier at its Isla Grande Terminal in San Juan, Puerto Rico and concluded a 30-year lease extension for the property with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority.
   The construction contract was awarded to L.P.C.& D. Inc., of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, and includes the development of a new 900-foot-long by 114-foot-wide concrete pier and all associated dredging needed to accommodate Crowley’s two new liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered, container and roll-on/roll-off ships which are being built at the Pascagoula, Miss. shipyard of VT Halter Marine at a cost of about $350 million.
   Crowley’s terminal expansion plans also include the installation of three new ship-to-shore container gantry cranes, which will be supplied under a separate contract.
   Jose “Pache” Ayala, Crowley vice president, Puerto Rico, said the company is investing about $500 million in its service between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico and added, “We are very excited to choose a Puerto Rico-based construction company who will utilize workers on the island and keep the money in the local economy.”
   The pier was developed over the past year with the PRPA and Harbor Consulting Engineers, Inc., of Seattle, Wash., and Crowley said it is acquiring permits, including those from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other local agencies that will allow the company to break ground in the coming months. Construction is expected to be completed in April 2017, in advance of the inaugural call of the first new “Commitment Class” ship, El Coqui, under construction at VT Halter.
   Crowley’s major competitor in the Puerto Rico trade, Sea Star, last month launched the first of two new LNG-fueled containerships, Isla Bella, which will enter service later this year.
   With the withdrawal of Horizon Lines from the Puerto Rico trade earlier this year, Crowley and Sea Star have supplemented their existing services to Puerto Rico by adding barges to increase capacity.
   Crowley has added 7,000 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.