Post Panamax ships to call to Halifax
 

Super-size container ships will stop in Halifax


By BILL POWER Business Reporter
Wed. Apr 14 - 4:53 AM

Some of the world’s biggest container ships are part of an enhanced Asian service announced Tuesday for the Port of Halifax.

One of the shipping groups providing a link between Southeast Asia and Halifax said it was upgrading its service to Nova Scotia to include post-Panamax vessels.

"These are the biggest ships and they require the deepest ports," said Michele Peveril of the Halifax Port Authority.

Major port customers, such as Canadian Tire, will be beneficiaries of the new express service to Southeast Asia that features the large container ships, she said.

The Port of Halifax will be the first inbound North American port for the express service linking the East Coast and Southeast Asia via the Suez Canal.

It means there will now be five shipping lines participating in the CKYH Alliance. The five lines that make up the alliance include: K Line, Hanjin Shipping, Yang Ming Line, Cosco Container Line and Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL).

The CKYH Alliance commenced service with the Port of Halifax from Asia, via the Panama Canal, with eight Panamax vessels in May 2009.

Panamax vessels are the largest that can pass through the Panama Canal. Post-Panamax ships are too big for the canal.

Nine post-Panamax vessels are part of the newly enhanced service. The vessels are part of a vessel-sharing arrangement with Mitsui O.S.K (MOL).

Karen Oldfield, the port authority’s president and chief executive officer, said the service enhancement improves Canada’s supply chain with Asia.

"This new service, along with the port’s existing Asia services, will enhance Canada’s trading position, providing fast and secure logistics through an Atlantic Canadian gateway port," she said in a news release.

The container business is already up about 30% in Halifax compared to the first 3 months of 2009 (1st quarter of 2010 versus 1st quarter of 2009). I read recently (I can't find the article) that it will take only 23 days to Halifax from Asia through the Suez Canal versus 30 days through the Panama Canal.

Montreal is one of Halifax's biggest competitors, if these very large ships can't go down the St. Lawrence then we will likely see a huge jump in cargo coming into Halifax over the next few years.

That is a major comparative advantage! Finally some good news on the trade front!

This is especially good news because our tax dollars go to fund ships to break up ice to that ships can skip Halifax and go to Montreal... these ships will never be able to go down the Saint Lawrence!

The reduction in the shipping time will probably mean a lot more Asian business coming to Halifax where it can be shipped throughout the North Eastern North America.

It could be that the ships can still dock in Quebec city even if they can't go all the way to Montreal. Here is some information on if: http://www.canadiansailings.ca/Archi...1/Default.aspx . The minimum depth of the channel between Montreal and Quebec City is 11.3 meters.

One of the selling points I've heard is that Halifax is a good destination port for cargo from India. Sailing times from China to west coast ports are much shorter.

The big drawbacks seem to be Halifax's poor rail connections. One of the port's advantages could be speed but this can easily be eliminated if cargo doesn't move out quickly. It's possible that there are also management issues with the port but I don't really know... it was underperforming for a while but now seems to be doing better.

I think if we did see an increase in traffic through the port, CN would pretty much have to beef up or improve its' service.

I hope because i would hate to see more trucks downtown.

Yeah so then you can transport those goods to market via New Brunswick roads on our provincial taxpayer dollars instead! Thanks!







(I'm just kidding by the way, I'm not at all one of those "my tax dollars got spent on what?!" guys at all, I just wish there weren't so many damn transport trucks on the roads around here. I want trains back!)

Yeah, I agree trains make much more sense.

It may be bad for the roads but having more goods flowing through the Maritmes will be good for both provinces.

There are trains. CN moves a lot of freight daily out of Halifax.

how many trains daily does CN run? i remember awhile back they cut it to 1. has that been changed back to 2 or did this never happen? either way with increased traffic at the port, CN will have to step up its game.

I believe 1 train from HalTerm and either 1 or 2 from Fairview pass through Bedford everyday.

All I can say for sure is one passes through from 8-9pm and another one around 1am (I can hear both).

ya i think it was hal term that had the second train cut.

on another note, the increase in ships could be good news for the two proposed new ports elsewhere in NS (melford terminal, and sydport). i have seen the rail lines (CBCNS) between new glasgow and antigonish being upgraded over the past year. i dont know if that is because of an expected increase in traffic or because the old tracks are just outdated.

anyways back to halifax, if traffic volumes become high enough do you think that CN will put the second line back into the rail cut? im just curios as to what other think.

I'm all for trains and my point was that currently being a taxpayer in NS means that at a pointless cost (icebreaking costs more than the train) Quebec is getting goods that could have gone through halifax.

Problem is... CN is a joke and we won't see any investment in our rail infrastructure unless leadership on all levels realize how important it is to our competitiveness as a country. Hell, they can't even agree on the Montreal - Toronto coridor.

The Federal Government will probably widen and dredge the St. Lawrence so Quebec can get the business.

That should only cost a few billion dollars.

Yeah that would be one of the worst desicions in our governments history. Yep, lets spent enormous amounts of money to dredge the St Lawrence to drive business away from one part of our country to another that may god knows seperate in the future. What sense!

yes, but we cater to them, just like we cater to other certain groups

Even if they wanted to widen the St. Lawrance seaway; I don't think they could widen it enough for these ships - it would be a significant amount of widening.

That more of these ships are coming to Halifax is a good thing - it will lead to the greater question of what to do with Halterm if demand picks up a lot - how will Halterm expand (and to where)?

I am still of the belief that halterm is pretty much stuck where it is and thus has a capacity limit - it would be better off on the Dartmouth side.

I know, but my point was, as others have mentioned, that overall the use of trains is not what it could be, especially given how much more efficient they are at moving large volumes of goods. The other problem is that all levels of government spend billions every year to build and maintain highways through the Maritimes, but when was the last time they gave anywhere near that amount of cash to build or maintain rail lines? The trucking industry essentially gets their entire base transportation network provided to them for free, but rail operators (like CN, CP and short line companies) have to pay to maintain their networks entirely out of their operating expenses with comparatively minimal subsidies. I think this is a huge inequity that needs to be corrected by either putting more public funds into rail, or by having more toll roads to make the long-distance trucking industry pay for the abuse they inflict on public roads.