Maersk Panang heads outbound (above) while CMA-CGM Norma gets worked at pier 41.
Saturday At Halterm
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Monthly Archives: July 2019
USS Billings Sails.
The future USS Billings successfully made it out of Halifax harbour Saturday.
ACL in and out.
The Grande Sierra Leone is filling in for the Dry docked Atlantic Star. the Ship sailed Sunday afternoon. Grimaldi is the parent of ACL, and their yellow co-ro’s are a rare sight in Halifax. Also note the sideways stow at the bow.
The Inbound Atlantic Sun held off the ferry track to allow the Grande Sierra Leone to pass.
Design Selected for new Naval Large Tug.
The contract for the design of the new Naval large tugs project was issued by Ocean Industries. Robert Allen Ltd. of Vancouver will be providing a variation of their Ramparts 2400 design. The design is commercially proven, with 48 having been built internationally. The Tug is not currently in use in Canada.
Ocean will be building 4 tugs, 2 for each coast. the New large tugs will replace the existing Glen Class.
USS Billings at the Dockyard.
As the ship is not yet commissioned, technically PCU Billings tied up at the Dockyard, in view of the Macdonald bridge. The ship is due to sail Tomorrow at 10am.
USS Billings Due today
the Latest Littoral Combat ship is due to stop in Halifax, late this afternoon. USS Billings collided with the cargo ship Rosaire A. Desgagnes June 21 while departing from its berth at the port of Montreal bound for Halifax. The ship looks to be scheduled to Tie up at Shearwater, perhaps in an attempt to arrive quietly.
USS Billings Captain, Cmdr. Michael Johnson was relived of command after the incident. Word from the river was that the Johnson was arrogant captain, which would explain how you sail into the ship behind you with 2 tugs and a pilot aboard.
Command was turned over to Cmdr. Nate Rowan, who successfully brought USS Wichita out of the river.
USS billings is the 7th Freedom class Littoral combat ship, built by Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri at Martin Marinette shipyard in Wisconsin. Of the 7 ships of the class, on their trip out of the lakes to their homeport, one was damaged in a lock, two suffered engine failures, and 1 spent an unplanned winter in Montreal due to ice.
Port Expansion Feedback is in
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.
We covered the examined options for port expansion in January
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
