Work Cat Weekly Container-On-Barge Service Links Brownsville And Tampa Ports
New Service Offers Shippers a Competitive Option, Expanded Capacity, and Environmental Benefits While Connecting Industrial and Consumer Markets In the Southeastern United States with Texas and Mexico
TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- After a series of weekly cargo sailings since October to fine-tune operations, Work Cat officially launched its new container-on-barge service this week between the Port of Brownsville in Texas and Port Tampa Bay in Florida. The new weekly shipping option efficiently connects markets in Florida and the Southeast United States with Texas' Rio Grande Valley and Mexico's industrial centers in Monterrey, Saltillo, and Matamoros, while offering competitive service and cost, as well as environmental benefits.
The operation already has moved more than 2,000 containers of customer cargoes between Texas and Florida, demonstrating the advantages to customers. With service times and pricing options competitive with typical trucking options, the new service provides significant new capacity, and advantages to shippers and customers across a wide array of industries and distribution centers, particularly the more than 300 operations along the I-4 corridor in Florida and Mexico's industrial centers in Monterrey. Shipping cargoes directly between Tampa and Brownsville involves about 40 percent less distance than trucking around the Gulf of Mexico, requiring about one-fourth of the fuel with significant environmental savings and emission reductions. Additionally, as the weekly service expands, Work Cat will look at additional options such as investing in high-capacity, advanced catamaran vessels that can provide even greater performance savings. The new service has completed 12 sailings to-date between Brownsville and Tampa, continuing to fine-tune operations for greater efficiency.
"We're excited to formally launch this new weekly service between the large and rapidly growing Northern Mexico, South Texas and Southeastern U.S. markets," said Hank Hoffman, CEO at Work Cat. "Work Cat is built around the core pillars of excellence in shipping and logistics and we're proud to work with Port Tampa Bay and the Port of Brownsville in carrying out our mission to provide customers with fast, safe and dependable transport from loading dock to customer site."
The Port of Brownsville is the only deep-water port on the US-Mexico border and the largest gateway for steel into the emerging Mexican economy. In addition to its role as a major shipbuilding center, the Port of Brownsville is the closest port to Mexico's industrial complex in Monterrey, supplying the needs of automotive, white goods and industrial manufacturers throughout the region. The port features direct rail access north into the United States and south in Mexico, plus a direct overweight highway corridor into Mexico that allows shippers to load semi-trucks to the higher Mexican weight limits without having to reload and double-handle cargoes at the border.
Port Tampa Bay is Florida's largest port handling a diverse mix of bulk, break bulk, container and roll-on/roll-off cargoes, as well as a major cruise homeport and a hub for shipbuilding and repair. Tampa-based Port Logistics Refrigerated Services and Brownsville-based Schaefer Stevedoring will handle the receiving, consolidating, cross-docking, loading and sorting activities at each port.
"At Schaefer Stevedoring, we have spent more than four decades focused on helping integrate steel and general cargo logistics through the Gulf Coast," said Nico Schaefer, Vice President at Schaefer Stevedoring. "This new route will allow us to help a wide-range of customers get what they need when they need it – as quickly and efficiently as possible."
"Restoring a strong transportation option between Brownsville and Tampa will help a number of our customers save a significant amount of time and money," said Rick Sharp, Chief Operating Officer for Port Logistics Refrigerated Services. "We look forward to ensuring that using this route is as easy as possible for customers across the Gulf of Mexico and beyond."
Commercial customers can contact Rick Gabrielson at [email protected] for more information.
About Work Cat
Work Cat is an innovative marine highway company that pursues faster, more consistent, and more reliable transportation services across the Gulf of Mexico. Work Cat is initially offering trans-Gulf of Mexico containerized freight transportation services between the large and rapidly growing South Texas/Northern Mexico and Southeastern U.S. markets. Sailing between the ports of Tampa, Florida and Brownsville, Texas, the Work Cat service provides intermodal carriers a greatly expanded capacity alternative. The name Work Cat stems from its future proprietary "Work Cat" cargo vessel—a modern 400-foot catamaran capable of transporting 300 truckload equivalent shipments. Through its relationships with third party logistics providers, manufactured product shippers, and intermodal carriers, Work Cat offers a completely unique alternative form of transportation capable of delivering fast, highly reliable service that is competitive with all other land and sea-based transport modes.
SOURCE Work Cat
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