New container service banks on Portland
Photo/David A. Rodgers
John Henshaw, executive director of the Maine Port Authority, says a new container service in Portland will help businesses save money
Within the next two weeks, weekly container ship service will return to Portland's International Marine Terminal for the first time since Hapag Lloyd suspended its operations three years ago.
The weekly New England-Halifax Shuttle will be operated by New York-based American Feeder Lines and will connect Boston, Portland and Nova Scotia. The company says the shipping route will serve the proposed M-95 federal marine highway corridor, following the same route as its predecessor, Hapag Lloyd's Yankee Clipper. That service also made weekly stops in Portland as part of its own New England-Halifax service. AFL's chief operating officer, Rudy Mack, previously managed the Yankee Clipper service while at Hapag Lloyd.
The service should prove to be a major benefit for Maine businesses, many of whom have had to rely on road or rail transport, says John Henshaw, executive director of the Maine Port Authority.
"About the only good thing that came out of the recession is that businesses started to re-examine costs," he says. "That included how they move cargo, and what options they have for moving it less expensively."
Perhaps chief among the businesses whose bottom lines could be greatly improved by the shuttle service are Maine's pulp and paper companies, Henshaw says. Since the barge that carried pulp from the marine terminal to New York stopped servicing Portland last September, these companies have been forced to use less cost-effective trucks and trains to transport pulp to Boston, New York or as far south as Newport News, Va.
The New England-Halifax Shuttle will be the first service in AFL's planned hub-and-spoke service that would connect ports along the East and Gulf coasts. Once the network is completed, the plan is for large container vessels to offload their imported cargo to a fleet of "feeder" ships for transport to smaller ports. Cargo for export would move in the opposite direction.
For the time being, AFL will rely on foreign-flagged ships to provide the weekly service. However, the company plans to build its own fleet of 10 small container ships in the United States. This will ensure that AFL is in compliance with the Jones Act, a section of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 that requires all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flagged ships that are built in the country, owned by U.S. citizens and crewed by U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents. AFL has signed letters of intent for its fleet to be built at two shipyards. At press time, the company had not responded to questions about the identity or location of those shipyards.
The success of the Boston-to-Halifax service will determine how rapidly AFL can produce its fleet, which in turn will determine how fast it can expand its service. That's why the company's choice for its initial service was crucial, Henshaw says.
"It's a first step for them, but an important first step. It would be hard to build those 10 ships if the first service isn't successful," he says. "We know that we have a service that will work for them because it's worked in the past."
Henshaw's confidence in the success of the service is buoyed by the fact that L.L.Bean had started its own shipping operations through the International Marine Terminal well before the new service was announced.
"It's not something they've ever done before, but it's something that made sense for them," he says of L.L.Bean.
A $5.2 million expansion of the terminal, the majority of which is funded through federal stimulus dollars, includes rehabilitating and expanding the pier, strengthening the lot to handle heavier freight and adding lights and utilities. The project is expected to be completed before September 2012.
According to AFL, its fleet of 10 ships will be "the greenest possible ships trading in U.S. coastal waters," operating on low-sulfur fuel, including liquefied natural gas and biodiesel fuel. Based on AFL's calculations, the carbon dioxide output from each ship carrying 992 laden containers would be 27% less than if those containers were transported on 246 double-stacked rail cars, and 77% less than if they were moved on 744 trucks.
The potential savings on the cost of fuel could bring over-the-water shipping costs down, which would make the service even more attractive to Maine businesses, Henshaw says.
"This service is something that's going to help companies, the city of Portland and the state of Maine," he says.
For more on the International Marine Terminal and a photo slideshow, read "Harbor hopefuls."
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