Crowley Maritime’s Shipping Services to Cuba Reached Another Milestone

Crowley Maritime Corporation’s shipping services to Cuba reached another milestone this past weekend with the first delivery of petroleum products to the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay via articulated tug-barge (ATB) tank vessel.

The cargo was loaded in San Diego, Calif., and transported to Cuba aboard Crowley’s ATB Coastal Reliance / 550-4.

The fuel delivery was made in support of Crowley customer Military Sealift Command (MSC), which will continue utilizing the Coastal Reliance / 550-4 under short-term contract to transport clean petroleum products between the Gulf and East Coasts for the next several months. Before serving MSC, the Coastal Reliance / 550-4 operated on the West Coast for nearly a decade.

“Crowley has been serving MSC and operating in the Caribbean Basin for decades in a variety of ways,” said Rob Grune, Crowley’s senior vice president and general manager, petroleum transportation. “We are pleased to continue serving MSC with petroleum transportation services while also building on Crowley’s more than 10 years of containerized cargo transportation from the U.S. to Cuba.”

Crowley was the first U.S. carrier to obtain a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C., to provide regularly scheduled common carrier services for licensed cargo from the United States to the Republic of Cuba. Crowley launched its Cuba shipping service in December 2001, becoming the first U.S. carrier to re-enter Cuba in nearly 40 years, and has maintained a regularly scheduled service ever since.

The Cuba fuel delivery was yet another in a long history of firsts for Crowley. In 2011, the company’s petroleum transportation team sent the first ATB, the Ocean Reliance / 550-3, north of the Arctic Circle to deliver petroleum products to Nome, Alaska.

“Our fleet of ATBs – ranging in size from the 155,000-barrel 550 class to the 327,000-barrel 750 class – is not only diverse in capacity, but also in geographic capabilities,” said Grune. “These vessels can be used to safely and reliably transport petroleum products and chemicals almost anywhere in the world. We’ve proven it by going to some of the most remote locations in some of the most extreme conditions, including the waterways of Alaska, the U.S. West and East Coasts, and now to Cuba. We’re extremely proud to support our customers in almost any way, and in almost any place, that they need products delivered.”

This Coastal Reliance / 550-4 is one of four Crowley owned and operated 550 class ATBs, which are approximately 20,000 deadweight tons, and approximately 605 feet in length and 78 feet in breadth. This class of ATBs, since their construction in 2001 and 2002, has operated on the U.S. West Coast, Canadian West Coast and Alaska for a variety of customers. These vessels were developed and designed by Crowley specifically for West Coast operations and weather conditions, with advanced safety features such as double hulls, inert gas generator systems, segregated ballast and radar gauging systems. They offer proven reliability and performance, with the best achievable technology available today. Click here to learn more about Crowley’s fleet of ATBs.

Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is on the front lines for regional security in the Caribbean area. The base supports the ability of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships, along with allied nation ships to operate in the Caribbean area by providing contingency and quality logistical support with superior services and facilities. The base also supports the Department of Homeland Security in U.S. migrant operations to help care for displaced migrants from the surrounding area, effectively helping control the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States.