Crowley Liner Services Adds Two New Vessels, Increases Capacity by 23 Percent in Gulf-Central America Northern Zone Service

2000-08-15

(Jacksonville, Fla.; August 15, 2000) Crowley Liner Services ~ Latin America will replace vessels in its service between the U.S. Gulf, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador, with two, larger capacity 165-FEU vessels, increasing total Roll/On Roll/Off (RO/RO) capacity in the service by 23 percent.

The service enhancement is designed to accommodate increased cargo volumes in the trade that are expected to be generated by recent passage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) — NAFTA Parity Bill, which goes into effect Oct. 1. The service will provide customers with a total weekly capacity of 330 FEUs while continuing to ensure the fastest transit times for apparel customers and others shipping time-sensitive cargoes to Latin America.

The first of the two new, larger-capacity vessels, the Crowley Express, entered service Friday August 11, and will be followed by the Crowley Universe in early September.

Sailings will depart Gulfport on Tuesdays and Fridays for Puerto Corts, Honduras, and Santo Toms, Guatemala. Managua, Nicaragua and San Salvador, El Salvador are served overland via Puerto Corts and Santo Toms respectively.

In addition to offering greater total capacity for customers, our new vessels feature larger ramps which allow us to handle larger Ro/Ro units and special project cargo such as construction equipment and building supplies, said Rinus Schepen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, for Crowley Liner Services ~ Latin America. We are reaffirming our commitment to maintaining service integrity and handling even the most challenging cargo shipments with ease.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Crowley Liner Services provides cargo common carrier services between Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and the north coasts of Colombia and Venezuela. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oakland-based Crowley Maritime Corp., founded in 1892. Additional information about Crowley Maritime Corp. and its subsidiaries, Crowley Liner Services, Crowley Marine Services, Crowley Logistics and Crowley Petroleum Transport may be found on the Internet at www.crowley.com.