American Feeder Lines goes out of business

'The short-sea, Jones Act idea has died,' said Rudy Mack, AFL’s chief operating officer. 'If you can’t run a feeder service from Halifax to Boston and Portland, how will you be able to run other short-sea services?'

American Feeder Lines, which suspended its 9-month-old feeder service from Halifax to Portland, Me. and Boston recently, is going out of business.

AFL started the Halifax-Boston service last July with a chartered vessel called the AFL New England with a capacity of 700 20-foot-equivalent units.

The carrier had hoped to build up to 10 container ships in the U.S. and launch weekly short-sea services that would link up to 18 ports under the Jones Act.

“The short-sea, Jones Act idea has died,” Mack said. “If you can’t run a feeder service from Halifax to Boston and Portland, how will you be able to run other short-sea services?”

From the Journal of Commerce