The Port of Halifax has delayed The 2020 cruise season until July 1. This does not apply to smaller vessels carrying 500 people or less (passengers plus crew). This follows the direction provided by Transport Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Yesterday Princess cruises suspended operations for 2 months, Viking Cruises cancelled trips for 2 months, and Virgin delayed the inaugural season of their ship Scarlet Lady.
The Port Authority also announced that The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market building will not open on Saturday, March 14, 2020. This is to contain the spread of COVID-19. The building will remain closed indefinitely.
The 2020 cruise season in Halifax will start on April 11 with the arrival of
Norwegian Star, a Norwegian Cruise Lines vessel. The season will run until November 3.
for the 2020 season the Port of Halifax is expecting 203 vessel calls carrying approximately 350,000 cruise guests. For local tourism providers, planning for the upcoming season is well underway.
2020 Halifax Cruise highlights include:
Eleven (11) scheduled inaugural calls in 2020, starting with the arrival of Norwegian Star on April 11 and flowed by Hanseatic Inspiration (May 20), Empress of the Seas (May 23), Amsterdam (June 1), Norwegian Pearl (June 8), Oasis of the Seas (June 25), Island Princess (Aug 6), Carnival Radiance (Sept 11), Norwegian Encore (Sept 12), Amundsen (Sept 13), and Evrima (Sept 25)
Four (4) visits from Queen Mary 2 on July 1-2, August 2, September 23 and October 21
Two (2) visits from Disney Magic on October 10 and October 19
September 25 is expected to be the busiest passenger day with over 10,000 cruise guests on five vessels
Recent rail blockages are beginning to severely effect the port of Halifax. Yesterday ACL announced they were no longer calling in Halifax as long as rail service is limited, routing traffic through New York instead. ACL has a contract with CERES until 2022, and calls twice a week with containers and RO-RO traffic.
Hapag-Lloyd, and the Alliance is still calling in Halifax, but is considering re-routing cargo, as is ZIM. Hapag-Lloyd released this statement Wednesday.
The blockades of key rail track and Port Infrastructure facilities throughout Canada continues and the Federal and Provincial Governments remain in dialogue as they seek a resolution with the Indigenous communities across the country.
There have been no material changes to the state of the blockades as communicated in our previous letter. CP Rail tracks remain comparatively clear.
Prince Rupert is now clear and the recovery is underway.
The blockade in Ontario remains in place, and CN’s Eastern Canadian network is more or less shutdown. A limited number of trains are operating in the Halifax/Montreal corridor. Various options to move /divert cargo out of Halifax are being explored.
It is not clear yet how long the protests could last and the disruption continues as the blockades enter their third week. There has been inevitable disruption to the Rail transportation of both domestic and International shipments for which we apologize.
This is a continuing situation and we will provide you with regular updates.
Hapag-lloyd Feb 19 Statement
Some trains working east of Montreal are moving, but as most cargo through Halifax is bound or from beyond the Belleville blockade, those services are affected. The port is stacking cargo bound for Toronto and points west.
Why are we here?
Coastal gas link is attempting to build a Natural Gas pipeline in BC. CGL have signed benefit agreements with several indigenous tribes along the pipeline route, and the project has broad support among elected councils and hereditary chiefs. 5 Hereditary Chiefs oppose the pipeline route across Wet’suwet’en Territory, and were blocking progress in Protest.
The supreme court ruled that the Wet’suwet’en territory is unceeded – it is not subject to a treaty, and the people were not conquered, therefore the Hereditary chiefs have legal title to the land.
Those 5 hereditary chiefs are not against the pipeline. they are against the current routing of the pipeline across their lands. The chiefs have proposed alternative routeing, which is actually in use by other pipelines currently. CGL rejected the proposed new routing, claiming it would delay the project by a year, and Cost 700 million more to build.
CGL went to court, and the BC Court granted an injunction ordering the protesters away. they refused, citing sovereignty over their territory. The RCMP then moved in and enforced the injuction. The Legality of the BC court injunction is likely to be challenged, however that will take time to work out.
In the Meantime, Mohawks have blocked the CN mainline near Belleville in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en. An injunction has been issued against this blockade by an Ontario Court, however the OPP have yet to enforce this.
The above are the facts. they are not open to debate.
This protest is not anti-pipeline, its not about the environment, or moving oil. some have latched on to the protest to advocate for those ideas, however that is disrespecting the purpose of the protest- which is about respecting indigenous title to the land, which in this case clearly exists.
The OPP have likely chosen restraint in dealing with the Mohawks, frankly its likely the interruptions could become much more severe were they to forceably remove this blockade. The Mohawks were participants in the Oka Crisis which featured blockaded roads bobby-trapped with incendiary devices. as bad as the rail blockade is, shutting down the 401 would be much worse.
while the Trudeau liberals are rightly getting criticism for the handling of this issue, Calls for the prime minister to order the police to do something are wrong. Politicians do not and should not directly control the actions of the police. Support and calls for Vigilantes, or other citizens to take it upon themselves to intervene is also not a sound approach.
Fundamentally CGL chose to go to court rather then being a good neighbour. CGL, wanting to save time and money is now costing the Canadian Economy millions per day in losses, and several thousand people are out of work until this is resolved. the rest of the country is an externality to getting this pipeline built how CGL want it, and frankly more anger should be expressed to at CGL, and Corporate Canada should be demanding CGL apologize, and change the routing.
Develop Nova Scotia today released the RFQ for construction of a new wharf on Georges Island. The project will see the existing wharf cut down, and a new pile structure twice its size constructed.
The new wharf will be 135′ long, and 18′ wide. there will be 60′ of Floating dock on either side of the main wharf to allow for boat access. Deadline for bids is Sept 17.
The Current wharf was built in 2004, and is built over the ruins of previous wharves. The first wharf was constructed by 1784, and was historically 130′ in length, and 20-25′ wide – the approximate dimensions to the proposed structure.
As previously announced, today PSA International Pte Ltd has completed the acquisition of Halterm from Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. This is a good news story for the port, as PSA is a terminal operator, and not simply an investment fund. PSA will work with Shippers, CN, and the port to increase business, and has extensive operations around the world.
PSA’s other Canadian facility is the Ashcroft Terminal, British Columbia’s largest inland port facility. Ashcroft Terminal is located approximately 300km east of the Port of Vancouver, close to the major highways, and offers unique rail connectivity to both Class 1 railroad lines – CN and CP
The port released the results of the public consultation they performed to solicit feedback on port expansion and how the port operates within the community. The consultation was conducted by Hill+Knowlton Strategies via a survey to two groups in March and April 2019.
Support
for port is strong, with the majority from both groups agreeing or
strongly agreeing that the port is important to the economy and quality
of life in the region. Among the groups, the rational for port expansion
is understood, and is supported by similar numbers of respondents.
Despite
some strong advocacy for moving Halterm to Dartmouth, survey
respondents favored the Halterm North expansion option over the move.
Halterm North would see the south end finger piers that make up the
ocean terminals infilled to add an additional berth. More than 50% of
respondents were indifferent or against moving to Dartmouth. Less than
31% were indifferent or against Halterm expansion.
The
respondents indicated their priority considerations regarding port
expansion were the impact on local neighborhoods, and access to road and
Rail. On the question of truck volume downtown, most felt it was an
issue, and there was strong support for reducing trucks, and expanding
rail to do so.
The
survey results are good news for the port. The port has some clear
direction, and support from the public. Expansion can be done, but the
port must also be a good neighbour. The recent
announcement on federal funding to remove trucks from the downtown and
enhancing rail service between the terminals was likely driven by the
port and the government taking survey feedback in this regard seriously.
The
Consultation consisted of two survey groups. The open group consisted
of anyone who wanted to fill out the survey online. 1,911 answered some
or all the survey questions. The majority of this group were working
age, and 23% identified as a downtown commuter. A second group, was a
demographically representative sample of 1012 participants from across
the province. 33% of this group was retired, and the age group tended to skew to age 45+. It was also 50% of HRM and 50% from the province at large.
As
would be expected, responses to the open survey were likely from
interested parties, but the results among both groups show the same
preferences overall.
Full results, and the expansion options can be viewed at www.portcityhfx.ca
Halterm announced it has Procured the Equipment required to add another Crane unit – with options for a second.
The Equipment ordered, Includes a new SPPX Container crane, capable of reaching 24bays across, to be delivered in June 2020. 2 New RTG’s, and 9 new yard tractors and container chasis will support the crane in the terminal.
Delivery should coincide with the completion of the terminal expansion.
With the interm expansion of pier 42 currently underway, The Port announced its further expansion options yesterday. The Images are photos of slides taken by Councilor Waye Mason, who attended the presentation by the port, and the descriptions are mostly lifted directly from the ports website at portcityhfx.ca, with some additional comments by me.
Halterm North
This scenario involves infilling the main Ocean Terminal slips between Piers A, A1, and B, using a caisson wall that supports a new container pier, thus creating a single UCCV berth. The existing Pier C would continue to operate throughout the development phase.
This proposal would create an efficient container yard that can still accommodate dry bulk and cruise operations along the north side of Pier A. The Halterm North option can be built within the Port’s existing property, with negligible impact on navigation or on adjacent land use. This option requires the least amount of imported fill material and has the shortest development timeline of all three Halterm-based scenarios.
The Halifax Port Authority would investigate relocating users of Ocean Terminals to other locations within the Port of Halifax. This option would be the least expensive and easiest to build.
Halterm South
The Halterm South concept extends the existing Halterm berth southward with significant infilling to accommodate on-dock rail and container storage. The slip between Piers A1 and B would be infilled to create additional yard space.
Enhancement options for Point Pleasant Park were included as part of the Halterm South expansion concept. This option would be more expensive and would require more time to build than Halterm North.
Halterm East
Phase One would involve infilling the slip between Piers A and B and a new berth would be developed east of the existing Pier C. Should container volume continue to increase, the new berth would be expanded southward to increase the capacity in subsequent phases.
The Halifax Port Authority would investigate relocating users of Ocean Terminals to other locations within the Port of Halifax.This option would be more expensive and would require more time to build than Halterm North.
Dartmouth
The optimal location of a new Dartmouth container terminal was identified as being to the south of downtown Dartmouth and to the north of Eastern Passage. This location was determined by navigational issues and by land use developments along the Dartmouth shoreline. (this is essentially the imperial oil site)
For the Dartmouth concept, two rail options were considered to provide necessary rail access to the site:
Trains running along the existing Dartmouth waterfront line
Trains running along new track east of Dartmouth
Trains running along the existing Dartmouth waterfront were found to be impractical due to the 4200 meter length required for efficient operation. A route for a 20+ km track running east of Dartmouth was examined in detail and adjusted to mitigate property and environment impacts.
Not including rail costs and costs related to property purchases, capital cost for this option was estimated at $1.4 billion CAD in 2017, with operation not expected to start until early-to-middle 2030. This option was determined to have much higher costs, longer timeline, increased logistical/construction challenges, and significant impact on properties and residents in Dartmouth. the real costs for this will likely be north of 3 billion dollars.
Other Options
Barges Assessed the use of barges to transship local containers between Halterm and Fairview Cove. This option would result in inconsistent movement of freight with increased exposure to weather-related delays and would add substantial operating costs to port-related goods movement
Halifax East/South Byway through Rock Cut Extensively studied the option of moving both rail cargo and trucks safely through the rock cut. This option would require expanding the width of the rock cut to 83 feet, or 25 metres. Several portions of the rock cut would require significant alteration (excavation and blasting) in predominantly residential areas. It would also require the rebuilding of 13 bridges and one rail bridge, plus the costs associated with design, construction and land acquisition (which would include expropriation) for a new highway intersection in the North End.
Halifax Northwest Arm Crossing Evaluated the diversion of local traffic to a new tunnel under the Northwest Arm, with connections to the west-side roads. This option would take too much time, would be cost-prohibitive, would pose significant engineering challenges to achieve the necessary 8% grade and would displace a large number of residents.
Raising the Harbour Bridges to expand Fairview Cove Evaluated the reconstruction of the harbour bridges to increase the vertical clearance to accommodate ultra-class vessels.This option would result in significant traffic disruptions in Halifax over many years and would result in a significant timeline disadvantage when compared to other more viable concepts
McNabs Island Assessed the option of building a new Greenfield terminal at McNabs Island.This option would take too much time, would be cost-prohibitive, would pose significant engineering challenges to develop the required cross-harbour connections for both road and rail lines, and does not have stakeholder support.
Atlantic Tern was the first ship to arrive in Halifax in 2019, followed shortly after by the CSL Bulker Salarium. Atlantic Tern tied up at pier 9, while the Salarium anchored inthe inner harbour.
the container ship Crete I arrived on the 31st, and tied up at Fairview Cove, but will not be worked until tomorrow.
the Following release was issued by the port today:
The Board of Directors of the Halifax Port Authority and the CEO are pleased to confirm that the work on the temporary South End Container Terminal berth extension has commenced, implementing its August 2018 board decision and announced at Halifax Port Days.
The berth extension will ensure that the Port of Halifax will continue to be a vital link in the Canadian supply chain, facilitate global economic ties and provide access to international markets for importers and exporters.
Construction is anticipated to be complete in Q1 of 2020.
A tender was recently issued, closing Nov 2 for the Dredging of the expanded area.
