Port Of Miami Attracts Large Shipping Company

By Samantha Joseph
The world’s fifth-largest cargo ship company is moving its Southern European service to the Port of Miami, citing superior market conditions.

France-based CMA-CGM will move Amerigo Service from Broward County’s Port Everglades, bringing four ships and new routes to Miami.

The service will introduce four container ships, each capable of transporting 31,000 tons of cargo. The carriers will sail from Miami to Malta, Lisbon, Genoa, Valencia and Livorno, Italy, and will be the only direct service to Fos, a French port.

Trade from European target markets accounts for 26.6% of ocean cargo from Miami, according to Andria Muniz, port spokesperson.

The port handled more than 8.6 million tons of cargo from Europe in 2002, according to the most recent data available from the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County’s economic development agency.

"Market indications clearly drew us to the Port of Miami," CMA-CGM commercial director Jean Serge-Martins said Tuesday. He said practical advantages such as ready availability of equipment is a major attraction.

The move complements Port of Miami’s growth efforts and its plans to regain companies lost to its Broward competitor. Last year, the county spent more than $7.4 million to rebuild cranes at the port and has approved buying new ones.

Assistant Port Director Juan Kuryla said the marketing effort includes a focus on personalized service and competitive rates such as the one offered to CMA-CGM.

"It provides a testament to our marketing efforts in going out and attracting new business," he said.

The service expands on CMA-CGM’s Houston Express, its existing five-ship service from the Port of Miami to the eastern Mediterranean, Black Sea, North Africa and Adriatic regions.