Sharjah - MENA Herald: GT USA, the US arm of UAE-based global ports and logistics company Gulftainer, welcomed to its Canaveral Cargo Terminal (CCT) the M.V. Norderoog on its maiden call of StreamLines, N.V.’s new Blue Stream service connecting Port Canaveral to Europe, the French West Indies and Central America.
The 528-foot M.V. Norderoog has a capacity of 1,368 TEU and 258 reefer plugs. Upon arrival at 7:36 p.m. on January 31, Peter Richards, CEO of GT USA and Managing Director of Gulftainer, marked the historic vessel call by presenting to the crew a commemorative plaque that was accepted by Captain Oleg Tereshenko of the M.V. Norderoog, who thanked the GT USA and Port Canaveral Authority representatives for their warm welcome.
Port Canaveral is the exclusive port of call in the United States for the Blue Stream service. The service is operated by StreamLines, N.V., part of the Seatrade Group, which provides import and export refrigerated and dry container service, with a focus on fresh produce and perishable cargoes. Calling weekly with five vessels, the service also includes the M.V. Max Winner, M.V. Star Stratos, M.V. Victoria and M.V. Conti Salome.
“The new service is a significant development for Port Canaveral, enhancing trade links with Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. This vessel call showcases the capabilities of Gulftainer and the Canaveral Cargo Terminal to offer our customers the world-class operational efficiency they need to expand their import and export cargo capabilities from Florida,” said Richards.
The terminal is able to turn around cargo between Port Canaveral and the Orlando area within one to two hours, the fastest transit time when compared to other container terminals in the state. The Blue Stream service will serve Central America to Port Canaveral in just three days and will offer the one of the fastest transit times - just 11 days - between Florida and Europe.
From Canaveral Cargo Terminal, vessels in the Blue Stream service will proceed directly to Rotterdam, Netherlands, with calls in Tilbury, United Kingdom, and Radicatel, France. After departing Europe, the schedule loop takes the vessels to the French West Indies ports of Fort de France, Martinique, Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe and Phillipsburg, St. Maarten – serving a Caribbean market based westbound out of Europe that is quite familiar to StreamLines. From St. Maarten, the vessels then proceed on to Moín, Costa Rica; Puerto Cortés, Honduras; and Santo Tomas, Guatemala; and from there directly on to Port Canaveral.
Pablo Gonzalez, General Manager, StreamLines N.V., said, “Working closely with our US general agents, North American General Agents, we are extremely proud to partner with GT USA to bring StreamLines to Port Canaveral, an important transit point for refrigerated, dry and project cargoes between Central America, Florida and Europe. Our agents, our team, the vessels and their crews are committed to delivering in Florida our signature first-class customer focus, providing ‘Fast, Dedicated, Direct’ service.”
Gulftainer’s Canaveral Cargo Terminal, the only dedicated container terminal at Port Canaveral, opened for business in June 2015. The Canaveral Cargo Terminal, developed on 20 acres with two berths and two gantry cranes to serve large vessels, began operations with a twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) cargo capacity of 200,000 TEUs.
