The U.S. Coast Guard is advising ships to move away from the middle of Florida’s Atlantic Coast due to the impending approach of Hurricane Dorian.
As of late Friday, August 30, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the “extremely dangerous” hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour, making it a Category 3 hurricane.
Dorian, now located just under 600 miles from Palm Beach, Florida, is moving west-northwest at nearly nine miles per hour. The NHC expected it to continue on the same track, but at a slower speed, allowing it to pick up even more energy as it travels across warm Caribbean waters. “On this track, the core of Dorian should move over the Atlantic well north of the southeastern and
central Bahamas tonight and tomorrow, be near or over the northwestern Bahamas on Sunday, and be near the Florida east coast late Monday,” the Center said.
Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville will set hurricane condition “Yankee” for the Port of Canaveral on Saturday ahead of Dorian’s approach. The condition means no vessels can move through the Port of Canaveral unless authorized by the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port.
Located in Brevard County, Florida, Port Canaveral’s container terminal has two deep-water container ship and multi-purpose cargo berths. It also handles cruise, breakbulk and bulk cargoes, and roll-on/roll-off ships.
The Coast Guard said there are no “safe havens” within the ports of Jacksonville, Fernandina and Canaveral for vessels looking to ride out tropical storm force winds and storm surges.
“The safest condition for the port during the arrival of a hurricane is when the inventory of vessels is at a minimum,” the Coast Guard said.
Jacksonville and Fernandina remain at condition “X-Ray,” which allows ships to continue operations ahead of evading the storm. Key West and Miami ports also remain at X-Ray.
Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime, which provides container shipping in the Caribbean and Central America, said it was still conducting normal operations as of late Thursday.
Crowley did move the 2,400-twenty foot equivalent El Coqui, a combination container/roll-on, roll-off ship, from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico early on Friday.
Spokesman David DeCamp said Crowley is focused on “serving customers and the integrity of their supply chain during Hurricane Dorian, including ensuring refrigerated cargo is expedited during unloading and leveraging truck services in case of rail impacts.”
Emergency management firm Witt O’Brien’s, part of U.S. shipping company Seacor Holdings, said it is “ready to assist our public and private sector clients affected by Hurricane Dorian throughout the Caribbean and Southeastern U.S.”