Crowley to Expand Puerto Rico Service to Accommodate Heavy Holiday and Y2K Cargo Volumes

1999-08-10

(Jacksonville, FL; August 10, 1999) Crowley American Transport announced today that beginning Sept. 14 it will offer a second weekly sailing between the U.S. Northeast and San Juan, Puerto Rico, to accommodate the heavy cargo volumes expected to be shipped for the holiday shopping season and millennium celebrations.

With the additional weekly sailing, cargo carrying capacity will be increased by 64 percent in the service between Pennsauken, N.J. and San Juan. In the South Atlantic, a re-deployment of vessels will also increase cargo carrying capacity between Jacksonville and San Juan, which currently features three southbound and three northbound sailings a week.

With the enhanced service offering, vessels will sail Tuesdays and Thursdays from Pennsauken to San Juan and Tuesdays and Thursdays from San Juan to Pennsauken. In the South Atlantic vessels will sail southbound every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and northbound every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

“As we enter the latter part of the year, cargo volumes will grow as retailers stock shelves for the upcoming holidays” said Ray Fitzgerald, Crowley Vice President and General Manager, Puerto Rico and Caribbean Services. “In addition, we should see more cargo moving in preparation for the many celebrations planned to welcome the new millennium. Shippers will also be moving cargo in advance of the new year for precautionary reasons in case Y2K complications impact their distribution capabilities.”

“With our five weekly, fixed-day sailings and added capacity, we’re even better prepared to handle shippers’ requirements” he said. Froilan Ansa, Crowley’s Director of Sales in Puerto Rico, said the service enhancements will be of great benefit to the many customers in Puerto Rico shipping cargo northbound to the U.S. mainland.

“We’ve just simplified the lives of shippers in Puerto Rico” he said. “Manufacturers won’t have to structure their production around service gaps in other carriers’ schedules. We’ll be offering a sailing every weekday to the U.S. mainland”

“And with Crowley, shippers’ products are not going to pile up in some warehouse waiting, in some cases up to a week, for the next available vessel departure,” Ansa said.

In addition to offering increased frequency and capacity, Crowley has a full-scale equipment fleet including 53-foot jumbo, 48-foot and 45-foot trailers. The use of high-cube trailer equipment eliminates the possibility of customers’ cargo being grounded at the port with no chassis to move it to destination.

Vessels in Crowley’s Puerto Rico service range from 580 to 730 feet in length and can carry up to 450 trailers and 240 automobiles. And because of the vessels’ Ro/Ro capabilities, Crowley can easily accommodate oversized loads too large to fit in trailers.

“Crowley has provided reliable, quality service between Puerto Rico and the continental United States for more than 44 years, and we intend to continue our standing as the carrier of choice in this trade well into the new millennium,” Fitzgerald said.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Crowley American Transport provides cargo common carrier services between Canada, the United States and countries in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oakland-based Crowley Maritime Corp., founded in 1892.