zoomImage Courtesy: Crowley

Crowley Puerto Rico Services, part of Florida-based Crowley Holdings, has assigned an additional sum of USD 21 million within a construction contract for improvements and upgrades at its Isla Grande port terminal in San Juan.

The construction contract has been awarded to Del Valle Group, S.P. of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, and includes expanding the terminal capacity for handling refrigerated containers and paving 15 acres to accommodate container stacking. It also encompasses installing a new electrical substation to provide power for three ship-to-shore gantry cranes, constructing a new seven-lane terminal exit gate and installing hardware required for a new terminal operating software system, as explained by Crowley.

The awarded contract is the third associated with Crowley’s investment in its Isla Grande terminal in preparation for the arrival next year of the first of Crowley’s two new LNG-powered, Commitment Class ships being built in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

“We are very pleased to have this final contract awarded as part of the transformation of our terminal at Isla Grande,” Jose “Pache” Ayala, Crowley vice president, Puerto Rico said, adding that the improvements will enable faster gate times and overall shorter turn times for truckers in and out of the terminal.

The latest contract follows a USD 48.5 million construction contract in 2015 for a new pier at the Isla Grande terminal. That investment by Crowley came after an agreement with the Puerto Rico Ports Authority (PRPA) for a 30-year lease extension for the Isla Grande property.

“This contract represents the last major contract to be awarded in our half-a-billion-dollar investment in our Puerto Rico Jones Act service,” John Hourihan, Crowley senior vice president and general manager, Puerto Rico said.