Port Of Halifax Hosts Largest Cargo Ship To Ever Visit Canada
HALIFAX — The largest containerized cargo ship to ever call on a Canadian port docked in Halifax Thursday.
The CMA CGM Brazil lumbered into the Port of Halifax early in the morning, stopping to unload cargo before carrying on to New York late in the day.
The Halifax stop was part of a weekly route the Malta-based ship traces from Shenzhen, China to Savanah, Georgia.
Stretching 366 metres, the ship is as long as 30 school busses lined up end-to-end. It can hold more than 15,000 20-foot shipping containers, which is enough to transport more than 3 million full-sized mattresses, or almost 725 million bananas
“She’s big. This is a big one.” Halifax Port Authority spokesperson Lane Farguson said, describing the massive vessel to Huddle.
Kim Holtermand, the CEO and managing director at PSA Halifax, said the CMA CGM Brazil’s call “is a testament of PSA Halifax’s ambition, opportunity, and the great resolve within this port to be alongside creating lasting and sustainable growth.”
Farguson said that while the sheer size of the CMA CGM Brazil is notable, Haligonians should expect more, even bigger ships to arrive in the future.
Not long ago, in 2014, the port marked a milestone by welcoming a ship capable of carrying 7,500 20-foot shipping containers (that’s a measly 1.5 million mattresses).
“That 7,500, that was a big deal then. That was one of the largest vessels calling on the east coast at that time,” said Farguson.
Then, in 2017, that the first “ultra-sized” vessel (the port considers any ship more than 350 metres long ultra-sized) floated into Halifax harbour. Farguson says average ship size has been increasing “steadily” since then.
“What’s happened in terms of the evolution of the ships that are calling is really quite spectacular when you think about it,” he said.
Halifax is one of only a handful of ports on the east coast of North America capable of servicing those massive, “ultra-sized” vessels.
That makes the port an attractive option for shipping companies investing in larger and larger ships. But Farguson says that the port needs to up its game if it wants to remain competitive.
That’s why, for instance, you might remember seeing a massive crane float into the harbour this July. It was a ship-to-shore super post-Panamax crane and was an important part of the port’s ability to service ultra-sized ships.
In fact, Farguson says, that new crane was used to service the CMA CGM Brazil.
The port is also the verge of completing a deep-water berth extension that will allow it to (in most cases) hold two ultra-sized vessels at once.
“All of those pieces are coming together to ensure that Halifax can continue to receive and efficiently turn around these ultra-large vessels that are now calling,” said Farguson.
While the Port of Halifax prepares for a future full of bigger and bigger boats, overall container traffic for 2020 is still down significantly.
According to the port’s data, 23 percent fewer containers have moved through the port’s terminals so far this year.
Farguson says the drop is a result of wood pulp exports falling after the closure of Northern Pulp, challenges stemming from the rail blockades that happened earlier this year, and “all the global challenges” connected to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Twenty-twenty has definitely been one for the books,” he said.
He said many of the challenges the Port of Halifax is grappling with are the same as ports around the world. He said there’s no good way to predict when things might return to some semblance of normal.
Until it does, Farguson says the port is doing everything they can to manage expenses and defer projects as much as it can.