Jamaican carrier starts U.S. service

Jamaican carrier starts U.S. service

Abisch

   A Jamaica-based carrier will start a three-day liner service between Miami and Kingston on March 20, as first reported by the South Florida Caribbean News Tuesday.
   Sea Ocean International will offer shippers in this market both dry and refrigerated box transport, backed by an automated booking and container tracking system, and local agents.
   The company is managed by Winston Simmonds, president and chief executive officer, and Alva Fearon, vice president and chief operating officer.
   The new vessel service comes at a time when freight volumes between Miami and Jamaica are especially soft because of waning tourism in the Caribbean due to the global economic meltdown.
   'As an NVO, we generally like to see additional carriers in a market,' John Abisch, president of Econocaribe Consolidators, a non-vessel-operating common carrier with regular service to Kingston, told American Shipper. 'However, in the Miami-to-Kingston market, there are already a few options with reliable weekly services with three-day transits departing on Friday and arriving Monday morning. Thus the current situation appears to be increased capacity combined with reduced volume.'