SeaBridge Freight announced that it will launch its “marine highway” short sea transportation service on Dec. 1. The company will initiate its bluewater container-on-barge operation between the Port of Brownsville, Texas, and Port Manatee, Fla.
The company’s 600 TEU-capacity barge (about 300 truckloads) will link the Texas/Mexico and Southeastern U.S. markets. “SeaBridge Freight’s trans-Gulf of Mexico service will provide a safe, reliable and low-cost alternative form of capacity to its third-party logistics, rail and intermodal motor carrier customers,” says Hank Hoffman, president and chief executive officer of the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company.
The company’s tug and barge service will provide four-day scheduled service between Brownsville and Port Manatee (Tampa Bay). SeaBridge Freight says it will offer clients the flexibility to utilize both domestic and ISO containers, ISO tanks and flatracks, and can accommodate overdimensional and overweight freight. Although SeaBridge Freight says its principal business is port-to-port container service, it will team with logistics partners at each port to offer local drayage, container transloading, warehousing and other services.
“Our success is directly attributed to bringing the attitude and customer-focused mentality of a trucking company to our nation’s marine highway,” says Mark Cleveland, SeaBridge Freight chairman. “We partner with railroads, 3PLs and intermodal motor carriers to cut costs out of shippers’ supply chains.”
SeaBridge Freight says its tug and barge operation represents a cost-effective transportation alternative that will result in a significant reduction in fuel consumption, emissions and highway congestion. Customers using the service will be able to improve their asset utilization by redeploying operators and equipment, according to the company.
For more information, call Grant Castle, vice president of sales and marketing, at 360-901-1106; call Bill Lauderdale, chief operating officer, at 904-210-5455; or e-mail [email protected].
