Crowley Partners With American Red Cross to Preposition Relief Items to St. Thomas and St. Croix

(Jacksonville, Fla,; Sept. 6, 2007) – Crowley Maritime Corporation’s liner services group partnered with the American Red Cross last week to donate ocean transportation services for five container loads of disaster supplies to the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. As three islands that have certainly seen their share of Atlantic hurricanes, they were earmarked by the Red Cross to receive disaster relief items ahead of any storms or other natural disasters that might come their way.

These items which included comfort kits, blankets, lanterns, batteries, cots and food and beverage cambros were shipped in five containers donated by Maersk Line as part of their ongoing global project for disaster relief with the organization. The containers totaling eight TEUs were loaded at the American Red Cross Disaster Field Service Center in Atlanta, Ga., prior to their arrival in Jacksonville, Fla. Once received by Crowley in Jacksonville, they were loaded aboard a vessel and delivered to St. Thomas on Saturday. Containers for St. John and St. Croix will be transshipped from there.

“Crowley is proud to partner with the Red Cross to ensure that our friends and neighbors in the Caribbean won’t be caught off guard by any impending natural disaster,” said Rudy Leming, vice president. “We know all too well the devastating effects that events like hurricanes can have on a community and gladly support programs like this one that are intended to minimize those effects.”

“The mission of the American Red Cross is to help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. The generous donation of shipping services from Crowley will enable the Red Cross to provide disaster relief items to people during their time of need,” said Armond Mascelli, vice president of Response Operations for the American Red Cross. “The Red Cross provides help and hope to communities across the nation and around the world, however, our work is only possible with the support of corporations like Crowley.”

Crowley is no stranger to disaster relief programs. In June, the company signed a contract with USAID to warehouse and ship disaster relief items from Crowley’s Miami distribution facility to locations throughout the world prior to, during and following an emergency. Upon notification from USAID that these items are needed, Crowley has only two hours to prepare the load for shipping. As such, a special rapid response warehouse team has been put together to meet these stringent shipping requirements. Recently, after an earthquake rocked Peru, Crowley quickly sent supplies as directed by the U.S. office of Foreign Disaster to Cielos de Peru Airlines for transport to that country. Included in this shipment were 13 skids of one-gallon water bladders, four skids of 10,000-liter bladders and three containers loads equaling 15,000 blankets. Service has also been requested by USAID for Jamaica because of the damage done by Hurricane Dean. Crowley responded by sending ninety-seven thousand pounds of supplies including hygiene kits, jerry cans, plastic sheeting and blankets. Again, the team was activated and complied with delivery timeliness.

Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime Corporation, founded in San Francisco in 1892, is primarily a family and employee-owned company that provides diversified transportation and logistics services in domestic and international markets by means of five operating lines of business: Liner Services; Logistics Services; Petroleum Services, Marine Services and Technical Services. Other services provided within these business lines include contract towing and transportation; ship assist and escort; energy support; salvage and emergency response; vessel management, and petroleum and chemical transportation, distribution and sales. Additional information about Crowley its subsidiaries and business units may be found on the Internet at www.crowley.com.

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