CG Railway (CGR) will christen the Cherokee, one of its two new state-of- the-art rail ferries, on May 18, 2022, at the Port of Mobile, Alabama. The celebration will include the traditional breaking of a ceremonial bottle on the rail ferry by its godmother. Following the christening, a demonstration of the unique roll-on / roll-off loading process will be performed, with a private vessel tour finalizing the event.
Scheduled speakers include John Driscoll, Director & CEO of Alabama Port Authority, and the mayor of Mobile, Sandy Stimpson. Joining them are the president of CGR, Hoffman Lijeron, along with the CEOs of its parent companies, Eric Fabrikant of Seacor Holdings Inc and Jack Hellmann of Genesee & Wyoming Inc (G&W).
The Cherokee’s godmother, Virginia Reeves, has been with G&W for more than 33 years and served as executive assistant to the company’s former chairman and CEO, Mort Fuller, who helped grow G&W from a single, 14-mile freight railroad serving a salt mine in Upstate New York to an international transportation company with more than 100 short line railroads in six countries.
Guests will include CGR customers moving freight between Canada, the United States and Mexico.
CGR and its rail ferries provide unique service, transporting a diversified group of commodities between the Port of Mobile in Alabama and the Port of Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz, Mexico – providing the flexibility to reduce the transit time to as short as 2.5 days port-to-port. The new, 590-foot-long ferries are designed to carry 135 railcars each, up from 115 railcars on the previous rail ferries, with an expected top speed of over 14 knots, up from seven knots – with the additional capacity and faster speed enabling more sailings per month.
The Cherokee has successfully completed sailings between the ports it serves and expects to increase sailing frequency as CGR diversifies its customer and commodity base.
Its twin sister, the Mayan, will be christened in Mexico this month, as well.
