Crowley preps for new Ro-Ro service offering

The liner services group of Crowley Maritime Corporation said this week it is rolling out a new Ro/Ro (Roll-on/Roll-off) liner cargo service between Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and St. Thomas, USVI, effective March 17.

Company officials said the first sailing with the Crowley Shipper will depart San Juan on Thursday, March 17 and arrive in St. Thomas the following morning, with the vessel leaving later that day and arriving back in San Juan on Saturday, March 19. The vessel will then depart for Santo Domingo and arrive on Sunday and then return to San Juan the next day, with a new rotation beginning the following Thursday.

They added that this fixed weekly schedule will benefit customers shipping cargo between these locales but also shippers sending cargo to the Caribbean from Crowley’s Pennsauken, N.J., and Jacksonville, Fla. terminals. And they pointed out that the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and USVI/BVI, including islands in the Eastern Caribbean, become even more accessible because of the connectivity provided by the new service and Crowley’s network of feeder vessels that serve the smaller islands.

A Crowley spokesperson told LM the company has been planning this development for several months, explaining it was determined to be an important service to provide to customers for several reasons.

“One reason was to provide better connectivity among Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, North and South Atlantic, and the Caribbean region,” said the spokesperson. “The addition of this service was an opportune way to complement our existing schedules and serve our customers in a new way. The establishment of this service is an excellent way for Crowley to work in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Caribbean markets. Previously Crowley hadn’t offered a service between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.”

Crowley also introduced this service as a response to customer requests, stating customers had needs in these areas and Crowley is now able to provide better service to them by adding the route.

And while the advantages to the region and shippers are numerous, the most important advantage is the fact that Crowley is bringing an established, quality shipping service to these areas, the spokesperson said.

“This innovative service provides full connectivity between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico as well as a wide variety of locations up the U.S. East Coast and into the rest of the Caribbean,” said Crowley’s Matt Jackson, vice president, Caribbean services, in a statement. “Additionally, as a Ro/Ro service, we will be able to handle project cargo, including heavy and oversized shipments, in addition to our standard and refrigerated container shipments.”

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