• 23 Mar 2017

Crowley Maritime, marine solutions company, and VT Halter Marine, shipbuilding company, launched Crowley’s new Commitment Class ship El Coquí, one of the world’s first combination container/ Roll on-Roll off (ConRo) ship, powered by liquefied natural gas in Pascagoula, Missouri, on March 20.

El Coquí, named after a small frog native to Puerto Rico, will now proceed through the final topside construction and testing phase before beginning service in the U.S. Jones Act trade during the second half of 2017 between Jacksonville, Florida, and San Juan in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Jones Act requires vessels in domestic waterborne trades to be owned by American citizens, built in the U.S. and crewed by U.S. mariners, thereby supporting investment in maritime infrastructure and jobs.

El Coquí, like her sister ship Taíno, will be able to transport up to 2,400 twenty-foot-equivalent container units (TEUs) and a mix of nearly 400 cars and larger vehicles in the enclosed, ventilated and weather-tight Ro/Ro decks.

The launch is the first in a series of milestones expected to be achieved as part of Crowley’s $550 million project to expand and modernize the company’s shipping and logistics services between Jacksonville and Puerto Rico, including three new  ship-to-shore gantry cranes manufactured in Ireland, two 260-ton cryogenic LNG tanks constructed by Chart Industries in Europe and a new 900-foot-long,114-foot-wide concrete pier at Isla Grande