Tropical Shipping/Thompson Line saw the largest growth of 51.5% serving the Caribbean and Bahamas from Palm Beach, FL. Agriex, the smallest carrier on the list, grew 24.4% handling cargo between Central America and the US. Great White Fleet, focused on food shipments, grew 23.8% to become the largest growing carrier with over 163,000 TEUs. United Arab Shipping and Pacific International Lines both saw over 23% growth and served imports and exports between Asia and the US.

1. Who’s Rising?

2. Tropical Shipping/Thompson Line, No. 32 in the Top 40, Up 51.5 Percent
The Riviera Beach, Fla.-based carrier serves the Caribbean market and the
Bahamas from the Port of Palm Beach, primarily handling refrigerated and frozen
food, perishables and consumer goods. Owned by AGL Resources, Tropical’s
strong gains have been relatively recent, jumping since the recession, but up only
1.6 percent since 2008.

3. Agriex, No. 40, Up 24.4 Percent
This Honduran carrier is the smallest to make the list of fastest-growing lines,
handling 18,289 TEUs in 2012. But it also trails only Pacific International Lines
among carriers registering the fastest growth since 2008, with a 100 percent
increase over that time. In the U.S., Agriex operates out of Port Everglades and
serves Central America and Jamaica.

4. Great White Fleet, No. 19, Up 23.8 Percent
Great White also focuses on agricultural and food shipments. Great White is the
largest carrier to make this top-growing carriers list, with 2012 import volume of
163,402 TEUs. The Charlotte, N.C.-based carrier turned a century old in 2008, a
year after Chiquita Brands sold the company to Eastwind Maritime and
NYKLauritzenCool.

5. United Arab Shipping, No. 23, Up 23.7 Percent
UASC is on track to maintain its rapid growth rate, after announcing plans to join
China Shipping Container Lines on three trans-Pacific services from Asia to the
U.S. Southwest and Pacific Northwest. The Dubai-based carrier is also one of the
more evenly balanced carriers serving the U.S., handling 119,972 TEUs in imports
last year and 115,894 TEUs in exports. It is one of two carriers to appear on the
import and export lists of fastest-growing lines.

6. Pacific International Lines, No. 25, Up 23.6 Percent
Singapore-based PIL is the second carrier, along with UASC, to make the list of the
fastest-growing lines in both the U.S. import and export trades — ranking first with
66.6 percent growth on the export side. PIL in early 2012 added a 10th 1,500-TEU
vessel to its China Transpacific Service, which calls at ports in China, Australia-
New Zealand, Malaysia and Southern California. PIL’s volume of U.S. imports has
soared nearly 175 percent since 2008.

7. Who’s Falling?

8. Hainan PO Shipping, No. 31, Down 68.1 Percent
This Chinese start-up company entered the trans-Pacific trade in August 2010, at
the height of the economic and shipping recovery, with a service between China
and Long Beach. After expanding to other West Coast ports that fall, Hainan PO’s
fortunes changed when the recovery stalled. It exited the business last November,
following in the footsteps of another niche start-up, The Containership Company,
which went into bankruptcy in April 2011 and was liquidated several months later.
Hainan PO will fall off the Top 40 rankings this year.

9. Horizon Lines, No. 33, Down 67.2 Percent
For Horizon, 2012 marked the culmination of four tumultuous years after it was
charged with antitrust violations over price-fixing in the U.S. mainland-to-Puerto
Rico trade. With Horizon facing bankruptcy, CEO Chuck Raymond stepped down
in 2011. Stephen Fraser, a former CEO of Genco’s reverse logistics business, took
over and stemmed the negative tide. Horizon returned to profitability in its fiscal
2013 third quarter before falling back into the red in the fourth. Fraser’s tenure as
interim CEO ended last June, when Sam Woodward, previously with forwarder
Traffic Tech, was named president and CEO.

10. CSAV Group, No. 22, Down 43.1 Percent
After struggling through seven straight quarters of financial losses, the Chilean
carrier may be getting back on track. A restructuring program implemented last
year reduced container ship capacity and increased joint ventures with other
carriers. And although CSAV’s U.S. 2012 import volumes plummeted year-over-
year, they were still 10.4 percent ahead of 2008. The bad news is that CSAV also
was one of the biggest decliners among carriers handling U.S. exports.

11. Matson, No. 24, Down 36.6 Percent
The second U.S.-flag operator to post a double-digit decline in import volumes, the
Oakland-based carrier discontinued one of two services to China in 2011. 2012’s
numbers were an anomaly for Matson, whose import volumes of 117,564 TEUs
were still more than 20 percent ahead of 2008 levels.

12. Sea Star Line, No. 36, Down 18.8 Percent
The third U.S.-flag carrier to make the list along with Horizon and Matson, Sea Star
also has battled a growing negative tide of news since 2008, when federal
regulators charged the Jacksonville, Fla.-based carrier with price-fixing in the
Puerto Rico trade. In January, former CEO Frank Peake was convicted of antitrust
conspiracy for his role in the scheme. The carrier, whose 30,954 TEUs in 2012
imports were still 8.3 percent above 2008 levels, is in the midst of a five-year, $11
million program to upgrade its refrigerated equipment fleet.

13. What Will 2013 Bring?

14. STAY INFORMED.
Trade Data & Intelligence from the Industry Experts