Sea Star Continues Puerto Rico Investments
Sea Star Line, LLC has entered an agreement to on-hire another barge to add to its current service package for shipments from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico.
The new asset has the capacity for 320 dry units and its initial departure is scheduled for the first week of April. In January, Sea Star Line added two barges to address increased demand in the market. The total capacity for both barges is 750 FEUs with dedicated space for 84 refrigerated containers.
Thus far in 2015, Sea Star Line has on-hired or purchased over 2,300 pieces of equipment, including dry and refrigerated containers, chassis and gensets. The additional fleet now gives Sea Star Line the ability to accommodate over 520 refrigerated containers weekly. Other operational upgrades include extended gate hours, expedited vessel transit times and additional labor to process equipment.
In October, Sea Star Line will deploy the first of two Marlin class vessels with a capacity of 3100 TEUs. Each vessel will accommodate 268 refrigerated containers with expansion capabilities to handle up to 350 refrigerated containers. The new vessels will be the world’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered containerships and dedicated solely to the Puerto Rico trade.
Tim Nolan, President of Sea Star Line, stated: “We recognize the void left by the departure of Horizon Lines and it is Sea Star’s goal to support the demands of the Puerto Rico market. We are confident the additional barge capacity and new Marlin Class vessels will support both the immediate and long term shipping requirements for the island.”