Horizon Lines To Expand Gulf Service

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Horizon Lines, Inc. (OTCQB: HRZL), one of the nation's leading domestic ocean shipping companies, today announced that it will add a Jacksonville call to its southbound service between Houston and San Juan, which will continue to operate on a 14-day roundtrip timetable. 

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The schedule enhancement will offer shippers a Tuesday sailing every other week from Jacksonville to San Juan.  Adding the Jacksonville call also creates a high-speed, over-the-weekend marine option through Houston for cargo bound for southeastern destinations along the Eastern Seaboard.    The company's weekly Thursday service departing Jacksonville for Puerto Rico remains unchanged.  

"This is an innovative schedule refinement that utilizes an existing in-service vessel to add a bi-weekly Tuesday Jacksonville service, as well as provide both U.S. coastal and deep water ports of call in the same sailing schedule," said Sam Woodward, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "The result is a customer-focused service enhancement that is economically attractive, as well as socially and environmentally responsible."

The first sailing of the new service is scheduled to depart Houston on Friday, June 7, 2013, arriving in Jacksonville on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. There, certain cargo destined for metropolitan areas in the Southeast will be transferred via the company's intermodal network and delivered to final destinations like Miami and Orlando, Florida, Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia, Charleston, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina.  The vessel will then load additional cargo bound for San Juan and depart on the same Tuesday, arriving in San Juan on Friday.   It will return directly to Houston from San Juan, departing on Friday and arriving in Houston on the following Friday, maintaining the current 14-day roundtrip schedule.

"Horizon's new hybrid service provides two important solutions for shippers who are moving cargo between Puerto Rico and our Jacksonville and Houston ports," said Joe Rodriguez, Vice President, Sales and Marketing.  "First, we are responding to their request for a midweek sailing solution from Jacksonville to Puerto Rico, which hasn't been available since we discontinued our weekly Tuesday service in January.  Second, we are providing shippers with an attractive marine solution for delivering cargo between two major regions of the U.S.  We have received strong interest from shippers of building products, raw materials, resins, agricultural products, foodstuffs and other materials that flow through Houston to distribution centers and manufacturing facilities in the Southeast." 

The Horizon Producer, a self-propelled, fully cellularized container ship with cargo capacity of approximately 650 40-ft. containers, will continue its deployment in the expanded Gulf service.  Horizon Lines has offered direct transit between Houston and San Juan on a 14-day roundtrip sailing schedule since 2007. 

The marine solution for moving cargo from Houston to Jacksonville offers a high-speed, cost-effective and environmentally responsible channel for shipping cargo from the Gulf to the South Atlantic markets.  "The over-the-weekend transit has the potential to remove numerous cargo containers from the nation's major highways between Houston and Jacksonville, reducing road wear, traffic congestion, potential accidents, and pollution," said Richard Rodriguez, Vice President and General Manager, Puerto Rico.  "Each container moving from Houston to Jacksonville on the Horizon Producer eliminates 900 truck miles one way and 1,800 truck miles on a round-trip basis, which equates to 1 1/2 to three metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions for each container moved.  Additionally, the new service allows us to offer faster transit times from Houston to the South Atlantic markets than railroads currently are capable of providing, and to move the cargo over the weekend, when truck availability is scarce."

About Horizon Lines

Horizon Lines, Inc. is one of the nation's leading domestic ocean shipping companies and the only ocean cargo carrier serving all three noncontiguous domestic markets of Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico from the continental United States.  The company owns a fleet of 14 fully Jones Act qualified vessels and operates five port terminals in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico.  A trusted partner for many of the nation's leading retailers, manufacturers and U.S. government agencies, Horizon Lines provides reliable transportation services that leverage its unique combination of ocean transportation and inland distribution capabilities to deliver goods that are vital to the prosperity of the markets it serves. The company is based in Charlotte, NC, and its stock trades on the over-the-counter market under the symbol HRZL.

Forward Looking Statements

The information contained in this press release should be read in conjunction with our filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws.  Forward-looking statements are those that do not relate solely to historical fact.  They include, but are not limited to, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance, achievements or events.  Words such as, but not limited to, "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "targets," "projects," "will," "expect," "would," "could," "should," "may," and similar expressions or phrases identify forward-looking statements.

Factors that may cause expected results or anticipated events or circumstances discussed in this press release to not occur or to differ from expected results include: volatility in fuel prices; decreases in shipping volumes; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity to operate our business; our ability to make interest payments on our outstanding indebtedness; work stoppages, strikes and other adverse union actions; the reaction of our customers and business partners to our announcements and filings, including those referred to herein; prices for our services; government investigations and legal proceedings; suspension or debarment by the federal government; failure to comply with safety and environmental protection and other governmental requirements; failure to comply with the terms of our probation; increased inspection procedures and tighter import and export controls; repeal or substantial amendment of the coastwise laws of the United States, also known as the Jones Act;  catastrophic losses and other liabilities; the successful start-up of any Jones-Act competitor; failure to comply with the various ownership, citizenship, crewing, and U.S. build requirements dictated by the Jones Act; the arrest of our vessels by maritime claimants; severe weather and natural disasters; and the aging of our vessels and unexpected substantial dry-docking or repair costs for our vessels.

All forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties. In light of these risks and uncertainties, expected results or other anticipated events or circumstances discussed in this press release might not occur. The forward-looking statements included in the press release are made only as of the date they are made and the company undertakes no obligation to update any such statements, except as otherwise required by applicable law. See the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our 2012 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 12, 2013, for a more complete discussion of these risks and uncertainties and for other risks and uncertainties. Those factors and the other risk factors described therein are not necessarily all of the important factors that could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed in any of our forward-looking statements. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could harm our results. Consequently, there can be no assurance that actual results or developments anticipated by us will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences.

SOURCE Horizon Lines, Inc.