Shipping company steps up trade between Manatee and Mexico
Port Manatee, which last week announced that its containerized cargo trade had increased nearly 74 percent in the six months ending March 31, compared to the same period a year earlier, had more news Thursday about one of the prime movers in that growth.
World Direct Shipping, based at Port Manatee, is expanding its weekly services across the Gulf of Mexico by deploying a significantly larger third company-owned vessel and adding a fourth Mexican port of call, Progresso, located on the Yucatan peninsula.
The new vessel has the capacity to handle 53-foot-long ocean containers.
“The continuing advancement of WDS as one of the world’s most rapidly growing container lines is a driving force behind record volumes moving across the docks of Southwest and Central Florida’s premier global gateway,” Reggie Bellamy, chairman of the Manatee County Port Authority, said in a statement.
The new ship, the 590-foot-long M/V Queen B III, arrived at Port Manatee on Wednesday.
M/V Queen B III can carry as many as 1,800 20-foot-equivalent units of containerized cargo – nearly three times the maximum capacity of either of the line’s M/V Queen B and M/V Queen B II.
“With M/V Queen B III, as well as enhancements to our container fleet, the addition of Progreso to our calls and the hiring of dozens of people as terminal and warehouse operators, World Direct Shipping is bolstering efficiencies for dependably serving our customers,” Carlos Diaz, director of WDS, said in a statement.
WDS began operations in late 2014 with a single vessel on once weekly service linking Port Manatee with the southern Veracruz port of Coatzacoalcos.
WDS now operates three weekly services, providing three-day transit times offering the fastest short-sea connection between Mexico and the U.S. Southeast, Northeast and Midwest for refrigerated produce and other cargo, according to Diaz.
Weekly calls at Progreso, in the Mexican state of Yucatan, were added this year, with that port joining Coatzacoalcos, the central Veracruz port of Tuxpan and the southern Tamaulipas port of Tampico on WDS itineraries.
This spring also has seen WDS augment its equipment fleet with more than 400 53-foot-long maritime containers that furnish greater cubic capacity for lightweight dry cargo. The company has assumed control over its warehouse and terminal activities at Port Manatee, bringing in its own reach stackers (a vehicle used for handling intermodal cargo containers) while hiring a dedicated workforce.
World Direct Shipping saw a 40 percent year-over-year increase in container volume in calendar 2020 compared with 2019, according to Diaz, whose company last year extended its agreement with Port Manatee through 2026. Imports include perishable fruits and vegetables, sugar, appliances and household products, while exports to Mexico are led by paper products.
“The sustained growth of World Direct Shipping and its ongoing partnership with Port Manatee are emblematic of our shared commitment to providing optimum service,” Carlos Buqueras, Port Manatee’s executive director, said in the press release.
