Container services link New Brunswick goods to the global market through Port Saint John
With two container lines calling, Port Saint John has global reach. Port Saint John’s partnerships with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Tropical Shipping link New Brunswick businesses to the world.
In April, MSC celebrated one year of calls to Port Saint John. The global shipping company provides service through Port Saint John to transshipment points in the Caribbean. Those goods are then shipped onward through their network of over 300 ports worldwide.
“While the service took some time to get started, we are satisfied with the level of support the community in Atlantic Canada has provided thus far. We see many more opportunities ahead of us as the feedback received from our customers demonstrates our collective ability to find new international markets for the goods New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada has to offer,” Olga Goldin, Marketing Assistant Manager for MSC, said.
Tropical Shipping, a Florida-based company with its Canadian headquarters in the Port City, has been calling Port Saint John for 12 years. It’s the company’s 50th anniversary in business. They link New Brunswick shippers and receivers to markets in the Southern United States and the Caribbean.
Tropical Shipping is also the exclusive platinum sponsor for Port Saint John’s annual Port Days.
“As a premium carrier focused on exceptional service, we are pleased to be able to partner with the Port of Saint John and offer reliable weekly service for the Canadian market place,” Gordon Cole, Assistant Vice-President of Tropical’s Canada, Hispaniola and Virgin Island Trades, said.
“We are excited to be part of Port Days 2013, showcasing why Tropical is the carrier of choice servicing Saint John for Florida, Bahamas, and the Caribbean; a definite North-South trade link.”
Andrew Dixon, Senior Vice-President of Planning and Development at Port Saint John, said Tropical and MSC are valuable partners for Port Saint John.
“Shippers in the Maritimes will tell you that Tropical’s reliable and regular service to the Southern region is a critically important factor in their continued success. MSC, with their now firmly established weekly service to transshipment points in the Caribbean has opened up global possibilities for local shippers to connect directly to their markets through a port in their home province, close to where the manufacturing takes place,” he said.
Container tonnage at Port Saint John in the first quarter of 2013 was up 52 per cent over the same quarter last year. Dixon attributed the increase to the Port’s connections around the world through Tropical and MSC.
“The benefit of this connection has obviously been to create opportunities for shippers to move additional product through a local port. This involves more often than not, local truckers, rail lines, stevedores and all other associated support services. That strengthens the overall port business model and helps to facilitate ongoing sustainable growth,” he said.