Port Of New Orleans Announces New Container, Intermodal Services
Within the last two weeks, the Port of New Orleans has announced a pair of new services, one by water and the other by rail.
SeaLand, the Maersk Group’s regional ocean carrier in the Americas, has announced a direct, all-water service called the Gulf Ocean Express service (GOEX), which will connect Central America, Panama and Colombia to the Port of New Orleans. The SeaLand Tiger cargo ship made the inaugural GOEX port call in New Orleans April 20.
The weekly service will involve three ships calling on the Port of New Orleans—two SeaLand vessels and one Maersk vessel.
“The new Central America service by SeaLand strengthens the Port of New Orleans’ trading position with our partners in both Central and South America,” said Port of New Orleans President and CEO Brandy Christian. “We look forward to working with SeaLand and MSC to ensure the service’s success.”
Outbound cargos carried by the GOEX service will include resins, paper, mining and metals, and frozen meat, while imports will include fresh fruits, forestry products, automotive and transportation components, chemicals and apparel. GOEX will also offer breakbulk and other special cargos out of Houston and New Orleans.
Vessels in the GOEX service will call on Houston, followed by New Orleans; Puerto Cortes, Honduras; Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala; Cartagena, Colombia; and Manzanillo, Mexico.
The Port of New Orleans also announced that, beginning in May, the port will gain a new weekly intermodal rail service between New Orleans and Wylie, Texas, near Dallas, thanks to the Kansas City Southern Railroad (KCS). The last time KCS offered this intermodal service was 2005.
“The return of the Kansas City Southern weekly intermodal service helps us capture greater market share and optimize throughput, with the ultimate goal of providing the best service possible to our customers,” Christian said. “This new intermodal service strengthens Port NOLA’s position as a seamless freight gateway, and we look forward to growing business with KCS.”
The announced service builds off of the port’s February acquisition of the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad, a Class III switching railroad connecting the port, the six Class I railroads that serve New Orleans and local industry.
“KCS is pleased to relaunch this intermodal service between New Orleans and the growing Dallas import market,” KCS Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Brian Hancock said. “In our continuing quest to be the most customer-focused transportation provider in North America, KCS is providing options to our customers in both the U.S. and Mexico through port services and transit options for supply chains from Asia, Latin America and Europe.”
The service will connect the Port of New Orleans’ Mississippi River Intermodal Terminal, located within the port’s’ Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal, and Kansas City Southern’s David L. Starling Wylie Intermodal Terminal.
