MSC’s Florida Gulf Feeder service begins calling JAXPORT

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The first vessel in Mediterranean Shipping Company’s (MSC’s) Florida Gulf Feeder service made its inaugural call to the Jacksonville Port Authority today. JAXPORT representatives presented a plaque to the crew of the container ship MSC Reet II to recognize the ship’s maiden voyage to Jacksonville.

The Florida Gulf Feeder service calls the SSA Jacksonville Container Terminal (JCT) at JAXPORT’s Blount Island Marine Terminal bi-weekly. JAXPORT partner SSA Atlantic provides stevedoring services at Blount Island.

The service connects Jacksonville to major transshipment hubs in the Dominican Republic and The Bahamas. The port rotation is Freeport, Bahamas; Rio Haina and Caucedo, Dominican Republic; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Jacksonville.

“We are thrilled that MSC, one of the world’s largest ocean carriers, continues to grow its capacity through Jacksonville,” said JAXPORT Director of Ocean Carrier Development Joyssy Woody. “The Florida Gulf Feeder service provides cargo customers a new option to take advantage of Jacksonville’s efficiencies, including our uncongested berths, and helps meet the growing demand for container capacity into the Southeast U.S.”

Florida Gulf Feeder is MSC’s fourth service at JAXPORT, complementing MSC’s existing connections between Jacksonville and Freeport through its Canada Gulf Bridge and Bahamas Express services. MSC also connects Jacksonville to four ports in Asia through the 2M Alliance.

Located in the heart of the Southeast U.S., JAXPORT is Florida’s No. 1 container port by volume and one of the nation’s top vehicle-handling ports. Jacksonville offers two-way ship traffic with no berth or terminal congestion and same-day access to 98 million consumers.

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Pictured from left: JAXPORT Vessel Planning Manager Steve Kapustka, MSC Reet II Captain Mamunur Rahman Khan, MSC Reet II Chief Officer Derrick Menezes, JAXPORT Director of Ocean Carrier Development Joyssy Woody, and JAXPORT Director of National Container Accounts Sheila Cox.