Tropical Shipping

Tropical Shipping is a transportation company that provides cargo shipping services from Canada and South Florida to The Bahamas and The Caribbean, as well as providing inter-island transportation services throughout the region. Established in 1963, the Miami-based company owns a fleet of 11 vessels with carrying capacity of 4,252 TEUs.

Tropical Shipping was the 31st-ranked container carrier in U.S containerized import trade in 2013, with volume of 37,358 TEUs, up 30.3 percent year-over-year, giving it market share of 0.2 percent. It was No. 22 in U.S. containerized export trade in 2013, with volume of 119,684 TEUs, up 13.3 percent year-over-year and market share of 0.9 percent. For more carrier rankings see the JOC’s Top 40 Container Carriers special topic.

A subsidiary of Saltchuk Resources will acquire Tropical Shipping and its related transportation, consolidation and cargo insurance companies from AGL Resources in a deal expected to total $220 million. Tropical was owned for years by Nicor Inc., which merged with AGL at the end of 2011.

Tropical posted earnings before interest and taxes of $12 million last year, compared with $8 million in 2012. AGL said it expects its cargo shipping segment including Tropical to contribute EBIT of $15 million to $25 million in 2014.