A PORT of Cleveland official says the transatlantic shipping route between Cleveland and Antwerp has grown 300 per cent compared to last year, reports Ohio's Ideastream.
"We've turned around to the point where we're not seeing as big as a loss," said port vice president David Gutheil, who now enjoys a second vessel call in a fortnightly service.
"There are still ports on the east coast which have daily vessel calls and that's where our competition is," he said.
So to be able to get to a once a week vessel call on the service is really where we need to be moving. The plan and the goal for next year is to get as close to a weekly sailing as we can, if not maybe three times a month," said Mr Gutheil.
When the geared Dutch-flagged 12,178-dwt Fortunagracht first docked in Cleveland (pop 390,000) on Lake Erie in April 2014, there was little European-bound cargo, which consisted of steel products, machinery, beer and a school bus.
Having lost US$3 million that first year, the Port of Cleveland pressed on.
Mr Gutheil said the port has invested nearly $6 million for new cranes. The port and Spliethoff Group are heavily marketing the Cleveland-Antwerp service to potential customers across the US and Europe.
The Spliethoff Group manages a fleet of 50 modern, Dutch flagged, 1A ice-classed, multipurpose vessels, ranging from 11,000 to 23,000 dwt.
Mr Gutheil said the port invested about $2.5 million in the transatlantic route this year, and hopes to have weekly service if they can convince more manufacturers and companies to use it.
International cargo, mostly steel products, leaving the port has increased 12 per cent thanks in part to growing interest in the Antwerp-Cleveland shipping route.
"We should see our last vessel in either the end of the week before Christmas, or the week of Christmas," he said. "The [St Lawrence] Seaway officially closes at midnight on December 29 when all the international vessels have to be out of the system."
That's because the shipping season is winding down across the Great Lakes. In just a month, cargo operations will shut down until March 2016.
CONTAINER
03 December 2015 - 22:21
Cleveland-Antwerp service up 300pc, puts on 2nd ship for fortnightly loop
A PORT of Cleveland official says the transatlantic shipping route between Cleveland and Antwerp has grown 300 per cent compared to last year, reports Ohio's Ideastream.
CONTAINER
03 December 2015 - 22:21
Cleveland-Antwerp service up 300pc, puts on 2nd ship for fortnightly loop
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