TAMPA: In 2013, Brazilian aerospace company Embraer SA shipped a limited run of components for its Phenom 300 light business jet through Port Tampa Bay to be assembled in its Melbourne facility.
The company is sending parts for two kinds of planes now, according to port officials, and in 2016 plans to send components for two additional models.
Embraer is one of the world’s top business jet manufacturers. Last month it sent the first shipment of this new cargo line to Tampa from its headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil.
“Brazil is a huge trading partner for Florida,” Tampa Port Authority spokesman Edward Miyagishima said. “This is just a great service between Brazil and Tampa Bay.”
When Embraer sent the first shipments of its Phenom 300 to Tampa in 2013, each crate was nearly 50 feet long and weighed 8,500 to 10,000 pounds.
Those massive crates were then trucked to Embraer’s Melbourne facility about two hours and 20 minutes away. That was one of the reasons why the company chose Tampa: its proximity to Central Florida.
Now Embraer has restarted that service and expanded it: The company has already started delivering segments of its Phenom 100E and Phenom 300 aircraft.
In 2016, the company will start delivering segments of its new Legacy 450 and Legacy 500 aircraft.
The plane components are being delivered by NYK RoRo of Tokyo, one of the world’s largest auto shipping companies. RoRo is shorthand for “roll-on, roll-off,” for the kind of ships that can quickly roll vehicles down a ramp and onto the docks.
Last month’s Embraer shipment to Tampa was the inaugural call for the new NYK RoRo shipping route, which also travels through ports in Brazil, Mexico, Aruba, Venezuela, Curacao and Argentina.
That’s important to the Tampa Port Authority for another reason: It shows future customers that the port can handle other roll-on, roll-off cargoes such as Mexican-made cars and trucks.
