Crowley Transports Airport Passenger Boarding Bridges to Puerto Rico for New Wing of Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport
(Jacksonville, Fla.; March 21, 2007) – Crowley Maritime Corporation’s liner services group safely unloaded five, three-tunnel airport passenger boarding bridges and component parts from a vessel in San Juan today. The bridges will be installed in the new wing of the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
They were shipped for TransGroup Worldwide Logistics, a leading international and domestic freight forwarder established in Seattle, Wash., in 1984, and are expected to improve comfort and convenience for air travelers at the important Caribbean hub airport. TransGroup’s project cargo division, which recently relocated its headquarters to Houston, specializes in the movement of oversize cargos worldwide.
Jan Otto, senior project manager for TransGroups project division, said Crowley was chosen to handle the move because of the company’s specialized freight handling equipment and experience transporting oversized project cargo. The passenger boarding bridges exceed 53 feet in length and the total cargo volume associated with this shipment is about 1,500 cubic meters.
“Crowley was able to accommodate all of the cargo on a single vessel, further supporting the critical timeline required to upgrade the airport,” Otto said. “Upon discharge in San Juan, TransGroup’s project cargo division has assigned a specialized trucker for the transport of all cargo to the respective gate locations at the airport, delivering a turn-key project logistics solution.”
“Crowley is very pleased to be entrusted with this important cargo for the people of Puerto Rico,” said Roberto Lugo, Crowley’s vice president of Puerto Rico services in San Juan. It is another sign of investments being made on the island and in the future growth of our economy.”
The airport passenger boarding bridges and their component parts were carried aboard Crowleys triple-deck Roll-on/Roll-off barge El Rey, which at 580 feet, is nearly two football fields in length.
Crowley and its predecessor company have been serving the Puerto Rico market since 1954, longer than any other carrier in the trade. The company, with nearly 300 Puerto Rico employees, is also the No. 1 ocean carrier between the island commonwealth and the U.S. mainland with more weekly sailings and more cargo carried annually than any other shipping line.
Crowley Maritime Corporation, the parent company for the Puerto Rico/Caribbean liner services unit, was founded in 1892 and is primarily a family and employee-owned company that provides diversified transportation and logistics services in domestic and international markets by means of four operating lines of business: Liner Services, Logistics Services, Petroleum Services and Marine 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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