Cruise Season kicked off for the first time since 2019 with the arrival of 2 ships. Ocean Navigator was first, arriving at 6am. Norwegian Getaway followed at 8am.
Ocean Navigator has previously called in Halifax as Victory II. This is Norwegian Getaway’s first call.
Saint John has seven seas Navigator tieing up tonight for an overnight stay. Charlottetown saw its first ship last week, after its first Canadian call off louisbourg was cancelled.
With the Oceanex Sanderling undergoing a refit in Europe, Oceanex has be alternating the two ships from their Montreal service to call in Halifax.
Oceanex Avalon carries containers only, and so is unable to handle the RO-RO traffic from Halifax. The ship was built in 2005, and is rated for 1004Teu.
A Norwegian Ferry showed up at Pier 9 yesterday. the SVANØY was brought over from Ålesund Norway by Logistec, and will be chartered to Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ) to cover for STQ ferries crossing the St. Lawrence river. STQ has an option to retain the ferry for 2023 as well. The ferry will be used on the Isle-aux-Coudres Crossing.
The value of the charter is $15.1million Cdn.
The PCTC Thalatta tied up at pier 9, and looks to be unloading Heavy Equipment from JCB. Equipment can be seen parked on the pier, and some rail cars are in the terminal to take some of it onward.
Logistec looks to have made the move to pier 9. Much of their orange coloured equipment can be seen parked on the permitted of Pier 9. Logistec traditionally was based on Pier A1, and frequently handled these types of deliveries there.
The transit shed on pier A1 is scheduled for demolition as part of the the infiling of basin between Pier A1 and B for the expansion of the PSA Halifax Atlantic Hub, which is due to begin in May.
Tropical Shipping’s Tropic Lissette called Monday in the snow. It was lovely today, so they must have delivered some better weather.
PSA Halifax has purchased Ceres Halifax Inc from NYK. Ceres has been the terminal operator at Fairview cove since the terminal opened in 1982, with 2 twenty year leases on the terminal. As a result of the purchase, Fairview Cove will retain its name, and the south end terminal will now be known as the Atlantic Hub.
The planned acquisition was previously revealed in a December 2021 competition bureau filing.
Historically there was some competition for carriers between Ceres and Halterm. When Ceres began operating Fairview Cove in 1982, the company’s founder Chris Kritikos was successful in bringing ACL and Hapag-Lloyd to the new Ceres terminal by offering better rates then Halterm. Ceres first year in operation at the Port of Halifax saw the terminal handle 55% of the Ports total volume. To this day, almost 40 years later, both ACL and Hapag Lloyd both still call at Ceres Fairview Cove, though ACL did switch back to Halterm for a period.
Ceres Terminals was acquired by Japanese shipping company NYK in 2002. That year Ceres renewed it lease on the terminal for another 20 years, ending in 2022.
The release indicates that PSA will be rationalizing terminal use with a goal of reducing truck traffic – likely smaller ships and RO-RO will begin to call at Fairview cove – I expect to see Oceanex make the move.
