The Port of Halifax comprises various port facilities in Halifax Harbour in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. Th ...

, Canada. It covers of land, and looks after of water. Strategically located as

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

's first inbound and last outbound gateway, the port of Halifax is a naturally deep, wide, ice-free harbour with minimal tides and is two days closer to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and one day closer to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

(via the Suez Canal) than any other North American East Coast port. In addition, it is one of just a few eastern seaboard ports able to accommodate and service fully laden post- Panamax

container ships A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermoda ...

using the latest technology. With 17 of the world's top shipping lines calling the port, including

transshipment Transshipment, trans-shipment or transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. One possible reason for transshipment is to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g ...

feeder ship Feeder vessels or feeder ships are medium-size freight ships. In general, a feeder designates a seagoing vessel with an average capacity of . Feeders collect shipping containers from different ports and transport them to central container terminals ...

services and direct access to Canadian National Railway (CN) inland network, the port of Halifax is connected virtually to every market in North America and over 150 countries worldwide supporting the delivery of all types of

cargoes ''Salt-Water Poems and Ballads'' is a book of poetry on themes of seafaring and maritime history by John Masefield. It was first published in 1916 by Macmillan Publishers, Macmillan, with illustrations by Charles Pears. Many of the poems had b ...

. Annually the port handles over 1,500 vessels, generates 15,000 jobs and $2 billion in economic impact. Halifax is one of Canada's top four container ports in terms of the volume of cargo handled.

History

After the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

withdrew from Halifax in 1905, the dockyards were handed over to the Government of Canada. Prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the government began the Ocean Terminals project. A new railway was built through the city's South End to service the modern piers, the first of which opened in the early 1920s. Shipping grew sharply during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. With the containerisation revolution of shipping, it was decided to build a container terminal in Halifax. The South End Container Terminal opened in the South End in 1969 at the site of the former Seaward Defence Base. A specialised vehicular processing facility, the Autoport, was opened in 1971. It provides various pre-distribution services in addition to basic loading and off-loading. The number of vehicles handled annually by the Autoport has grown from 100,000 in 1979 to about 250,000 today. By the late 1970s the South End Container Terminal was operating at capacity, handling more tonnage than any other container terminal in Canada. A second container terminal at Fairview Cove was therefore built at a cost of $47 million and opened in 1982. It was originally a single-berth facility, and operations were contracted out to Cerescorp Inc. The terminal has since been expanded. In 2003, Ceres (now a subsidiary of

Nippon Yusen Nippon Yūsen Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Mail Shipping Line), also known as NYK Line, is a Japanese shipping company and is a member of the Mitsubishi ''keiretsu''. The company headquarters are located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It operates a flee ...

) successfully bid on a continued operations contract, effective January 1, 2003 for 20 years. In 2005 the Fairview Cove Container Terminal berth depth was deepened to (as deep as the New Panama Canal). In 2012 a major expansion of the South End Container Terminal was completed. The depth of the berth was increased from and the pier was extended. In June 2017 it welcomed its first Neopanamax vessel, the ''ZIM Antwerp''. On August 1, 2019, PSA International completed its acquisition the former Halterm south end container terminal from Macquarie Group In 2021, 16,020- TEU

CMA CGM CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company. It is the world’s 3rd largest container shipping company, using 257 shipping routes between 420 ports in 160 countries. Its headquarters are in Marseille, France The name ...

Explorer-class container ship The Explorer class is a series of large container ships built for CMA CGM. The first five ships are long with a nominal capacity of 13,830 TEU; the last three are larger, at and 16,020 TEU, making them the world's largest container ships unti ...

s made their inaugural visits to the PSA south-end terminal.

Administration

Many major port facilities are owned by the Halifax Port Authority (HPA), a port authority operating as a federally regulated Crown corporation of the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

. HPA has responsibility of managing 260 acres federally owned marine industrial land in Halifax Harbour. The HPA was created on March 1, 1999 and succeeds the Halifax Port Corporation (HPC). HPC was the successor to the National Harbours Board, which operated all federally owned ports in Canada. Halifax was one of the first of eighteen national ports in Canada which implemented this administrative change as required by the

Canada Marine Act The ''Canada Marine Act'' (CMA; french: Loi maritime du Canada) (the Act) was passed in 1998 under the stewardship of David Collenette, who was Canada's Minister of Transport at that time. It was intended to modernize Canada's most important port ...

which passed on June 11, 1998.

Facilities

Halifax Port Authority facilities include: * South End Container Terminal – Piers 36–42 (operated by PSA Halifax) * Ocean Terminals – Piers 23–34 * Halifax Seaport (formerly the Seawall) – Piers 20–22,

Cruise Ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

Pavilion and

Pier 21 Pier 21 was an ocean liner terminal and immigration shed from 1928 to 1971 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Nearly one million immigrants came to Canada through Pier 21, and it is the last surviving seaport immigration facility in Canada. The fa ...

museum,

NSCAD University NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The univ ...

, HPA administrative building * Halifax Grain Elevator (leased and operated by Halifax Grain Elevator Limited) * Richmond Terminals – Piers 9 and 9A * Richmond Offshore Terminals – Piers 9B–9D (multi-user supply base for offshore oil and gas exploration/production) * Fairview Cove Container Terminal – (currently operated by Cerescorp) * Sheet Harbour Industrial Port Major port facilities not owned or administered by HPA: * National Gypsum Wharf – (owned and operated by National Gypsum Company to serve Wrights Cove gypsum terminal) * Woodside Atlantic Wharf – (vessel lay-up and repair, servicing oil rigs) * Imperial Oil Wharves – ( Imperial Oil, serves the Dartmouth Refinery) * Autoport – (owned by

Canadian National The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN ...

) All HPA facilities except the Sheet Harbour Port are serviced by

Cruise ships

Enchantment of the Seas Halifax 2011 (cropped)

In addition to being one of the world's largest natural harbours for

breakbulk In shipping, break-bulk, breakbulk, or break bulk cargo, also called general cargo, refers to goods that are stowed on board ship in individually counted units. Traditionally, the large numbers of items are recorded on distinct bills of lading ...

bulk Bulk can refer to: Industry * Bulk cargo * Bulk liquids * Bulk mail * Bulk material handling * Bulk pack, packaged bulk materials/products * Bulk purchasing * Baking * Bulk fermentation, the period after mixing when dough is left alone to f ...

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

, containerized and project cargoes, the Halifax seaport has become an increasingly popular

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

of call for

cruise ships Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "sho ...

from around the world. In 2019, the Port of Halifax had 179 cruise vessel calls with over 323,000 passengers aboard. It is estimated that cruise passengers alone contribute about $172 million to Halifax's economy every year.

References

External links