Portland ? Eimskip, the Icelandic steamship company that calls on the International Marine Terminal (IMT) in Portland, Maine, today announced that they will increase port calls to weekly service beginning December 1, 2017. This will result in a 45% increase in ship calls, from 36 to 52 ships per year at the IMT.
Eimskip began calling on Portland in March of 2013, after millions of dollars of investment by the Maine Port Authority (MPA) and Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) revitalized the once derelict IMT property. The MPA has seen growth at the port at 20% year over year since Eimskip?s arrival, with vessel calls steadily increasing.
"I am pleased that the partnership between the State of Maine and Eimskip continues to grow," said Governor Paul R. LePage. "This huge increase in ship calls to the International Marine Terminal will provide Maine businesses with better access to foreign markets and increase the global competitiveness of our State."
After Eimskip?s operations were moved to Portland, weekly service has been a goal for the company and its stakeholders. This is the first time in the company?s 100-year history that they have offered weekly service to the United States.
"We are very excited about Eimskip?s announcement to make weekly ship calls at the IMT," said MaineDOT Commissioner David Bernhardt. "Our investments at the IMT, totaling more than $45 million in public and private funding, have reinvigorated commercial shipping to the Port of Portland, providing Maine businesses with opportunities to lower logistical costs and reach markets across the world.?
In 2016, the MPA and MaineDOT announced the award of a federal FASTLANE grant to further improve IMT infrastructure and operations. As part of that grant, the state will be strengthening and enlarging the pier, building a new maintenance and training facility, purchasing a new mobile harbor crane, and further improving rail connections at the port.
With the announcement of increased ship calls, the MaineDOT will expedite a purchase of a new mobile harbor crane. This will allow for ships to be loaded and offloaded more efficiently and provide for necessary redundancy in crane operations to support the additional traffic.
?For Maine businesses to be competitive globally, they must have the infrastructure to get the product to market,? said Jon Nass, Chair of the MPA. ?We are looking forward to traveling with Governor LePage and Commissioner Bernhardt to the Arctic Circle Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October to further promote Maine?s relationships with Eimskip and other North Atlantic partners along Eimskip?s trade routes.?