The Miami-based ocean carrier increased its capacity 50 percent by replacing the 640-TEU Heinrich J with the 974-TEU Seaboard Caribe. Two years ago, however, the Seaboard's container service was twice per week.
Seaboard Marine, which operates 40 vessels serving the Caribbean and South and Central America, said the switch will allow the company to broaden the types of cargoes it can handle. Last year the carrier transported 33,000 TEUs through New Orleans.
Seaboard vessels will continue to call at the port's Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal until repairs are completed to its dedicated Inner Harbor terminal on the Industrial Canal. The company signed a six-year lease with extension options for a berth at the France Road terminal in August 2007, but is waiting for the port to finish more than $7 million worth of repairs to the site damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Work has been delayed while the port attempts to secure $6 million from a port trust fund to cover most of the renovation. Seaboard is also contributing a portion of the renovation costs.
