Grand Alliance Starts Direct Shipping Service to Northern Europe from August

The Grand Alliance will be adding a direct ocean shipping service to Northern Europe from Port Everglades in South Florida starting in August. Florida International Terminal (FIT) at Port Everglades is the new terminal operator and stevedore for the GAX (Gulf Atlantic Express) service, which is jointly operated by Hapag-Lloyd and its partners NYK and OOCL, and covers the trade between Northern Europe and the U.S. East Coast and Gulf areas.

“The GAX service offers our customers an additional well-established East-West connection,” said Port Everglades Chief Executive & Port Director Steven Cernak.

The service operates a fleet of five 3,237-TEU (20-foot equivalent units, which is the industry’s standard measurement for counting containers) vessels that will call Port Everglades every Saturday morning. The GAX route stops at Port Everglades, Houston, Savannah, Charleston, Portsmouth/Norfolk to Antwerp, Belgium; Thamesport, England; and Bremerhaven, Germany.

The first vessel calling at FIT will be the Philadelphia Express scheduled to arrive on August 24, 2013.

At the crossroads of North-South and East-West trade, Port Everglades is Florida’s leading container port, handling nearly one-million TEUs annually and serving as a gateway to Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. Port Everglades has direct access to the interstate highway system and the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) intermodal hub, and is closer to the Atlantic Shipping Lanes than any other Southeastern U.S. port. Ongoing capital improvements and expansion will ensure that Port Everglades can continue to handle future growth in container traffic. A world-class cargo handling facility, Port Everglades serves as an ideal point of entry and departure for products shipped around the world.

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Port Everglades, July 10, 2013