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Port adds major shipper

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By TED JACKOVICS

tjackovics@tampatrib.com

Published: September 4, 2009

TAMPA - The Port of Tampa is opening a route to Puerto Rico by closing a deal with a third major container service, Horizon Lines Inc., the nation's leading domestic shipping company.

Beginning Oct. 4., the Horizon Discovery will sail in a rotation from Tampa to San Juan to Houston and Tampa.

It should result in savings of time and money for distributors who generally have to truck their goods to the Port of Jacksonville, local port officials said Thursday.

The new service provides options for west and central Florida customers with a focus on exports.

"It's a wide mix of different products such as lube oil, food products, auto parts, beverages, paint," said Wade Elliott, the port's senior director of marketing.

The lucrative container cargo traffic is one of the Tampa port's bright spots, with shipments up 21 percent during the first nine months of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

The port will handle a projected 50,000 20-foot equivalent containers this year and 65,000 next year.

The new service dovetails with the port's container cargo expansion from 25 to 40 acres, Elliott said.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259-7817.

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