Bermuda Container Line – US East Coast to Bermuda Weekly Service

Bermuda Container Line (BCL) was formed by a group of importer investors in 1979 and is the island’s first Bermuda owned and operated weekly container and ro/ro service. BCL vessels have delivered nearly a half million containers and countless vehicles, boats, building projects and heavy equipment over the years. The MV Oleander is the fastest shipping service to Bermuda and departs each Friday from the US East Coast. BCL’s terminal operation is located in Port Elizabeth New Jersey at Maher Terminal, enabling the most efficient US and global transshipment cargo connections from around the world.

Bermuda Container Line provides an ocean freight service linking Bermuda with the world. It operates a weekly service between Port Elizabeth, New Jersey and Hamilton, Bermuda with the vessel M.V. Oleander.  Through an associated company, Somers Isles Shipping Ltd., it also operates a three time per month service between Fernandina Beach, Florida and Hamilton. BCL maintains a wide ranging network of agents throughout North America to allow it to provide full container load intermodal services between Bermuda and all key centers on the North American continent. Through connecting carrier agreements with a number of major shipping lines, BCL connects Bermuda with the rest of the world. BCL is managed by Neptune Group Management Ltd. who are also the Bermudian agents for the line. The North American General Agents for BCL are Bermuda Agencies Ltd.

BCL’s newest vessel, the M.V. Oleander, was built in 2019 in China to the lines own specification.  It is a combination container and roll-on/roll-off vessel capable of carrying 456 TEU as well as 113 cars in an enclosed garage area.  The Oleander has electrical plugs and generating capacity to allow it to carry 70+ refrigerated containers.  The enclosed garage area allows us to carry large roll-on/roll-off cargo as well as cargo on deck in front of the vessel’s superstructure.

In addition to a fleet of standard dry and refrigerated containers, BCL has a fleet of more specialized equipment including:

• Flat racks
• Bulk and tank containers
• Road trailers for non-containerized / break bulk cargo
• Specialized containers for the carriage of livestock

The BCL service from Port Elizabeth to Bermuda is the fastest and most efficient shipping service available to the island.  It departs from Port Elizabeth early on Friday evenings and arrives in Bermuda late Sunday afternoon for discharge of cargo on Sunday evening.  Importers can pick up their cargo starting at 8:00 a.m. Monday mornings.

In addition, shippers and importers have a robust selection of consolidators and freight forwarders offering less than container and full container load services to select from. We look forward to quoting any business that you may be considering and answering any questions that you may have.