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John Fernandes forms liaison with new shipping line
From left: Chris Fernandes, Peter Peroune, Robert Schicchi, Stephen Bell along with other representatives of John Fernandes Limited and Seaboard Marine
Vice President of the Caribbean leg of Seaboard Marine, Stephen Bell, has said that he finds Guyana to be a premier area for this region, and that his organisation is fully committed to staying, because it sees great potential here.
Seaboard Marine, an ocean transportation company that provides direct, regular service between the United States and the Caribbean Basin and Central and South America, officially launched a feeder service, on Thursday evening at John Fernandes Ltd, an agent for the company, with a cocktail party. This launch also coincides with the company’s 25th anniversary.
With the feeder service, a small vessel goes to Trinidad, Suriname and Guyana, which are countries that once had problems with their ports.
Vice President of Seaboard Marine, Robert Schicchi, said that the company’s entrance into Guyana is an area that the management had been developing over the past few years, and the team made a commitment last July to place a vessel that will operate between Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname every week on a fixed-day basis.
“…Our customers, whether they import or export, will always have that particular day of the week on which they can rely that the Seaboard vessel will be there and their cargo will be loaded or discharged,” Schicchi said.
This, he added, is basically what they are doing in this region, but they also expect to grow and to expand.
Schicchi noted that, currently, the service covers cargo to Guyana from the United States East Coast from the ports of Miami and Brooklyn, New York.
“We also are accepting cargo from Panama, Colombia and actually anywhere within that sphere of activities – between Panama, Venezuela, Colombia and Aruba. Cargo can be generated into the region from there.”
Schicchi added that the other connection that they have is the cargo that comes from the East Coast of South America – from Chile and Peru. For example, he said, Chile exports considerable quantities of Chilean wine every year, and Seaboard Marine hopes to get into that for distribution to Guyana.
Stephen Bell said that Seaboard Marine is happy to be in Guyana; this happens to be an area that they have looked at for some time.
“We are fully committed; we want to be here. We want to stay in Guyana. As the new vice president for this area, I have been charged with the continued development, and we expect great things.”
Bell added that the service out of the US East Coast is quite important; but, more importantly, there is a thriving market from Panama and Trinidad into this area, and they think that it is going to grow well.
“On top of that, we are looking at the exports. Our corporation has entered into a joint venture with John Fernandes and we are doing rice exports, and for that we are also quite pleased. That’s another area that we are quite happy to be involved in, because we see great potential.”
Bell also pointed out that they are looking at the development of the port in Berbice. “These are areas that we have quite an interest in. We are not sure in what way we will get involved, but we can say that Seaboard will be here. We want to be the number one carrier; and from what you have heard about the service being provided by us and John Fernandes, it’s just a matter of time.”
CEO and Chairman of John Fernandes, Chris Fernandes, said that his company is proud to be local agents for seaboard. He added that John Fernandes is looking forward to the Takutu Bridge, the Berbice Bridge and to the day when Guyana will have a facility in the Berbice River.
“What we have in Georgetown cannot supply the needs of a country that is developing.”
Seaboard Marine is an ocean transportation company that provides direct regular service between the United States and the Caribbean Basin, and Central and South America.
Established in 1983, Seaboard Marine is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seaboard Corporation.
It serves nearly 40 ports in over 20 countries. Seaboard Marine’s facilities include a private terminal of nearly 70 acres at the Port of Miami.
The company operates 45 vessels throughout the Caribbean, Central and South American.
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