Crowley Maritime Corp. is in talks to acquire the Puerto Rico ships, routes and San Juan port facilities of competitor Horizon Lines for about $80 million, according to a report in Caribbean Business. Caribbean Business said the carrier acquisition talks led by Goldman Sachs began three to four months ago, broke down, and resumed recently after Crowley ran into difficulties with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority over tax credits for a $100 million company investment in port facilities. The port facilities would handle two container/roll-on, roll-off ships that Crowley has ordered. The new ships will be fueled by liquefied natural gas and will have capacity of 2,400 20-foot-equivalent units of containers and 400 vehicles. Horizon’s interim CEO, Steve Rubin, could not be reached for comment. Crowley spokesman Mark Miller said by e-mail, “Our plans have not changed. We are building two new, LNG-powered ConRo ships at VT Halter, and we are talking with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority about making improvements to our existing Isla Grande terminal to accommodate those ships when they are delivered and put into service in 2017.” The new ships will provide a major upgrade of Crowley’s mainland-Puerto Rico service, which now uses roll-on, roll-off trailer barges. Horizon has an older fleet of cellular container ships.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 18:03:12 +0000
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