Sealand, the intra-Americas regional ocean carrier of the Maersk Group, has launched a direct, all-water service connecting Central America, Panama and Colombia with the USA.
Sealand Tiger made the inaugural call of the Gulf Ocean Express (GOEX) service at the Port of New Orleans on Friday, April 20 and is one of two Sealand ships and one MSC ship that are deployed.
Northbound the GOEX service will call Cartagena (Colombia); Manzanillo (Costa Rica); Puerto Cortes (Honduras); Santo Tomas de Castilla (Guatemala); Houston and New Orleans (USA).
Southbound, the service (which is able to carry breakbulk and out-of-gauge (OOG) project cargoes out of Houston and New Orleans) will call at Houston; New Orleans; Puerto Cortes; Santo Tomas de Castilla; Cartagena and Manzanillo.
"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 Brandy D. Christian, Port of New Orleans president and ceo. "We look forward to working with Sealand and MSC to ensure the service's success."
Sealand says that this is a continuation of the expansion of its Americas service network by adding US Gulf capacity.
GOEX also serves US export cargo out of the Gulf including resins, paper, mining and metals, and frozen meat, as well as US imports of agricultural products such as fresh fruits, forestry, automotive/transportation, chemicals, and apparel.
"The GOEX service bridges every country in Latin America through either direct or connecting services," said Craig Mygatt, Sealand ceo.
