Bringer Lines, a Miami-based air and ocean shipping company, is beginning a new service from Port Everglades to the Amazon region of Brazil with Japanese cargo shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd , better known as “K” Line.
“The Broward County Commission has long recognized the trade opportunities created by having an oceangoing shipping service to Brazil as Florida’s leading trade partner, and to Manaus in particular because of the trade possibilities between the free trade zone there and Foreign-Trade Zone #25 located at Port Everglades,” said Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Jr.
Commissioner Eggelletion and Broward County Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin traveled to Brazil, during two separate trade missions with the Port and the Broward County Office of Economic Development, to stimulate international trade and shipping services that would benefit South Florida.
“Historically, North-South hemispheric trade has been an important factor in South Florida’s international trade, with Port Everglades already capturing 28 percent of the market share in the Southeastern United States,” says Wasserman-Rubin. “We view this new service as a further step to encouraging growth in the Amazon region.”
The Bringer Amazon service will deploy two 500-TEU vessels on a biweekly basis. Ports of call for the service include Savannah, Port Everglades, Manaus, and Vila do Conde.
Brazil ranks as one of Florida’s top trading partners, according to Enterprise Florida. During 2007, approximately $13b worth of merchandise was exported and imported between Florida and Brazil. Brazil is one of the top ten trading partners for Port Everglades, generating approximately 400,000 tons of containerized cargo annually.
Port Everglades is Florida’s No. 1 container port and is ranked as the 11th busiest container seaport in the United States according to the PIERS import/export database. Port Everglades has direct access to the interstate highway system, is within two miles of the FEC rail hub and is just one mile from the Atlantic Shipping Lanes.
(www.broward.org/port)