[photopress:porthalifax.jpg,full,alignright]The Halterm-operated south-end container terminal in the Port of Halifax has embarked on a $10-million capital expenditure program.
It is the first major investment of this magnitude undertaken by the terminal since 2000, when it spent more than $23 million on two new super post-Panamax container cranes and other terminal equipment. The cranes are needed because the port now hosts post-Panamax vessels, so named because they are too wide to pass through the Panama Canal. The container ship in the picture gives some idea of how big container ships have now become. What sort of windage it would carry in a serious storm makes the mind boggle.
In the past year, Halterm has signed new service contracts with China Shipping and Maersk Line and more recently with Europe West Indies Line. Container cargo is expected to increase considerably, particularly from China, and Halifax has been pushing to be the main East Coast gateway to North America for major shipping lines coming China. This, once again, underlines the absolute importance to overseas markets of good connections to China from which, now, a majority of goods are shipped.
Source: The Chronicle Herald