Copán, Crowley’s second Avance class ship, enters service

Copán in the Port of Jacksonville. [Photo: Crowley]

Copán, the second vessel in Crowley’s series of four Avance Class LNG-fueled containerships on charter from Eastern Pacific Shipping, has followed its sister vessel, Quetzal, into service and begun its inaugural commercial operations from the Port of Jacksonville, Fla. (JAXPORT), expanding the company’s capacity and enhancing speed of ocean shipping for the Caribbean Basin.

Named for one of the most important archaeological sites of the Mayan civilization in Honduras, Copán was specifically designed to quickly and frequently deliver cargo while using lower emission LNG for fuel.

The Avance class vessels are fitted with high-pressure ME-GI engines from MAN Energy Solutions, reducing methane slippage to negligible levels and making the vessels the most environmentally efficient in their category, according to Eastern Pacific.

These capabilities make the Avance Class vessels, built at South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD), uniquely suited to quickly transport perishable goods like food and pharmaceuticals, as well as retail products, apparel, breakbulk cargo between the U.S., Central America and the Dominican Republic. The 1,400-TEU (20-foot equivalent units) ships can carry diverse container sizes for dry cargo and have a capacity for 300 refrigerated containers in their weekly port calls.

“Copán and its sister ships continue our investments to innovate our frequent and fast ocean carrier capabilities to meeting the critical needs of customer in the U.S., Central America and the Dominican Republic,” said Brett Bennett, senior vice president and general manager, Crowley Logistics. “These vessels build on Crowley’s decades-long commitment for diverse and robust supply chain solutions in the Caribbean Basin while advancing LNG as a solution in the maritime industry’s ongoing energy transition.”