Six con­tain­ers were trans­port­ed from Damen Ship­yard in the Nether­lands to Great Lakes Ship­yard in Cleve­land, OH, USA using the Cleve­land-Europe Express (CEE). The con­tain­ers are car­ry­ing spe­cial­ty com­po­nents that will be installed on sev­er­al new tug­boats cur­rent­ly under con­struc­tion at the Ship­yard.

The Cleve­land-Europe Express is the only direct, sched­uled ves­sel ser­vice that moves con­tainer­ized and non-con­tainer­ized car­go between the Great Lakes and Europe, through the Port of Antwerp. This trans­porta­tion option, devel­oped by the Port of Cleve­land in a part­ner­ship with Spli­ethoff, saves time and mon­ey, all while sup­port­ing local jobs. The CEE offers com­pet­i­tive tran­sit time, avoids the over­ly con­gest­ed east coats US ports, and pro­vides flex­i­bil­i­ty at the Port’s terminal.

The con­tain­ers were trucked from Damen Ship­yard in Gor­inchem, Nether­lands to the Port of Antwerp, Bel­gium. The con­tain­ers were then loaded on a Splei­thoff ship and tran­sit­ed the Atlantic Ocean, through the St. Lawrence Sea­way, and arrived at the Port of Cleve­land, Ohio, USA. The con­tain­ers were then deliv­ered by truck from the Port of Cleve­land to Great Lakes Ship­yard, less than four miles by road.

“The Port of Cleve­land is proud to part­ner with Great Lakes Ship­yard as they con­tin­ue to inno­vate right here in Cleve­land”, said William Fried­man, Port Pres­i­dent and CEO. “We start­ed the Cleve­land-Europe Express for exact­ly this kind of pur­pose, to give North East Ohio com­pa­nies new and local options for con­nect­ing to the world. ”

Great Lakes Ship­yard is cur­rent­ly build­ing the sec­ond, third, fourth, and fifth tugs in a series of ten and expects that more con­tain­ers will be shipped using the Cleve­land-Europe Express in the future.