New Far East Service Calling Port Everglades

[By: Port Everglades]

Port Everglades once again has a direct connection to Asia with the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Empire Service’s inaugural call on July 17.

In a press release announcing the cargo container service, MSC cited a desire to “enhance service reliability and schedule stability” for its Asia to United States’ East Coast network.

The updated Empire Service route replaces Florida’s Jacksonville and Miami port calls with Norfolk (Virginia) and Port Everglades. The service, handled by Port Everglades Terminal, LLC (PET), calls China (Shanghai and Ningbo), South Korea (Busan),  and Panama (Rodman) with Port Everglades as the final U.S. call on its return to Shanghai.

The port’s previous cargo service with a direct Far East connection was the MSC Santana Service, which PET also handled.

“By MSC selecting our port, it demonstrates that our strategic investments to boost our operational efficiency are meeting global market needs,” said Joseph Morris, CEO and Port Director. “The Empire Service vessels anticipated to call our port have a TEU capacity up to approximately 8,800, placing them among the largest to berth here and will help speed additional goods to market.” Twenty-foot equivalent unit, or TEU, is the standard measurement of cargo containers.

Port Everglades has 26 cargo container services primarily focused on North-South trade with Caribbean and Latin American countries, which contributed to a record 1.167 million TEUs for the port’s last fiscal year. The port in Broward County, Florida, is uniquely positioned to continue improving its cargo services with ongoing upgrades to its container gantry cranes and planned capital projects totaling more than $3.8 billion over the next 20 years.