Five vessels diverted from Port of New Orleans

Carriers don’t take any chances with Hurricane Laura

The Maersk Kolkata bypassed the Port of New Orleans this week because of threats from Hurricane Laura. (Photo: flickr/Joe B.)

Container carriers weren’t taking any chances with what grew to a Category 4 hurricane, steering some vessels away from a Gulf Coast port expected to be hit by the powerful storm. 

Carrier schedules showed five of 13 services bypassed calls at the Port of New Orleans this week because of Hurricane Laura.  

According to data provided to American Shipper by BlueWater Reporting, vessels skipping Port NOLA this week were the:

• Maersk Kolkata, operated by the 2M Alliance.

• Gulf Bridge, operated by the OCEAN Alliance.

• MSC Alicante, operated by the 2M Alliance.

• APL Holland, operated by the OCEAN Alliance.

• AS Cleopatra, operated by SeaLand/MSC.

The Kolkata departed the Port of Mobile on Thursday and was sailing to Miami, according to Marine Traffic. The Gulf Bridge reportedly had already arrived in Miami from Alabama. 

Both the Alicante and Holland had departed Altamira, Mexico, and were expected to berth at Port Houston on Saturday, according to Marine Traffic. 

The AS Cleopatra departed Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, on Sunday and was slated to berth in Houston on Thursday. Although Port Houston remained closed Thursday, all terminals were expected to reopen Friday. 

BlueWater said that of the 21 container services that call Houston, none announced they were omitting the port this week. 

Port NOLA was able to remain operational Thursday. Its schedule showed three ships, the Express Brazil, MSC Charleston and Container Express, were in port Thursday. The NYK Meteor is expected to arrive in port at 4 p.m. Friday.

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Click for more American Shipper/FreightWaves stories by Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills.

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Kim Link Wills

Senior Editor Kim Link-Wills has written about everything from agriculture as a reporter for Illinois Agri-News to zoology as editor of the Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Her work has garnered awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Prior to serving as managing editor of American Shipper, Kim spent more than four years with XPO Logistics.