KENT LINE REVAMPS U.S./CARIBBEAN SERVICE

KENT LINE REVAMPS U.S./CARIBBEAN SERVICE

KENT LINE REVAMPS U.S./CARIBBEAN SERVICE

   Kent Line said Thursday it will revamp its U.S./Caribbean service next month, adding port calls in Port Everglades and Jacksonville, Fla., in addition to New York and Saint John, New Brunswick.

   The move to New York marks a change in U.S. Northeast ports for Kent Line. The carrier will switch to New York's Red Hook Terminal from the Port of Philadelphia. The move will 'allow Kent Line to offer better service to the important Caribbean market' centered in New York.

   The Kent Sprint will call at Port Everglades on April 7. The new weekly rotation is Saint John, New York, Jacksonville, Port Everglades, Kingston, Rio Haina, San Juan, La Guaira, Puerto Cabello, Point Lisas (Trinidad), Bridgetown, Saint Lucia, San Juan and Saint John.

   Kent Line recently ended a slot-charter arrangement with Seaboard Marine, which provided Kent Line with port calls in South Florida for a about a year.

   Kent Line owns two geared, 1,000-TEU ships and charters a third similarly sized vessel for the service.

   The carrier said it will partner with International Port Services Inc. of Miami to establish a dedicated agency in Florida. Interport is an associate company of Intershipping C.A. , which has been Kent Line's Venezuelan partner since 1998.