Port of Philadelphia Adds Mexican Shipping Traffic

Terminal Operator Holt Logistics Corp. and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority have secured new shipping service to the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia that will link directly with port operations on the Gulf of Mexico.

SeaLand, the intra-Americas regional ocean carrier of the Maersk Group, is launching a new line in 2016, its “Atlantico” service, which will call the Mexican ports of Veracruz and Altamira before making a direct connection to the Packer Avenue Terminal in Philadelphia.

Arriving at Pier 82 from the Port of Turbo, Colombia, bananas, plantains, pineapples & melons are stored in a 130,000 sq. ft. on-dock refrigerated warehouse.

The SeaLand Atlantico service will begin weekly calls to Packer Avenue starting Feb. 3, and continue with weekly calls between Mexico and Philadelphia. The Atlantico service offers an alternative transportation option for trade between the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern United States, which generally employs ground transportation on 95% of its volumes.

This line will particularly benefit producers and exporters of perishable goods to the U.S. by providing economies of scale, security and reliability of an ocean service. Targeted commodities include goods such as avocados, lemons, tomatoes and commercial cargo.

“We’re very excited about this new weekly service with Mexico,” said Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) Chairman Jerry Sweeney. “It’s another example of the kinds of things that happen at the Port when you have great public-private partnerships in place. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is proud to invest in its marine terminals and provide business support, which assists aggressive, savvy terminal operators like the Holts in bringing home a great piece of business like this one.”

The new SeaLand Atlantico service will have the following port rotation schedule: Veracruz – Altamira – Philadelphia. For more information, please visit http://news.sealand.com/atlantico

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