SeaBridge sees Dec. 1 start-up for Gulf cargo service
SeaBridge Freight said it will start a short sea container-on-barge operation between the Port of Brownsville, Texas, and Port Manatee, Fla. on Dec. 1.
“SeaBridge Freight’s trans-Gulf of Mexico service will provide a safe, reliable and low-cost alternative form of capacity to its third-party logistics, rail and intermodal motor carrier customers,” said Hank Hoffman, president and chief executive.
The service will employ a lift-on/lift-off service barge capable of handling 600 TEUs that will offer a four-day transit time and 10-day frequency.
“We’re ready for prime time,” said Grant Castle, vice president of sales and marketing, who noted the service has been in the planning stages for about two years. The company originally hoped to start the service in April.
SeaBridge Freight expects the service to be attractive to movers of heavy cargo and manufactured goods from, Mexico, but Castle said the company expects east/west cargo flows to be fairly balanced, with, for example, consumer goods being shipped from Florida to Mexico.
Because Brownsville has a heavy freight corridor from the Mexican border to the port, he said shippers would be able to get heavily laden containers all the way to Florida without having to transload boxes. For some overweight cargo, that’s like moving one and a half containers for the price of one container between Mexico to Florida, he explained.
And shippers moving cargo to Florida will potentially be able to take advantage of lower rates from Florida because Castle said there are about seven truckloads of cargo going into Florida for every truckload leaving the state.
Castle said the company projects the barge should be 40 percent to 50 percent full from the get go, and it hopes to ad a second barge and double frequency within 11 months, perhaps sooner.
While Seabridge intends to focus on port-to-port container service, it will team with logistics partners at each port to offer local drayage, container transloading, warehousing and other services.
The company said it would be capable of carrying domestic and ISO containers, ISO tanks and flat racks, and can readily accommodate over-dimensional and overweight freight.