Fact Sheet

Fact Sheet

About

The world’s largest shipping lines call on the Port of Halifax, connecting the port to more than 150 countries. The beautiful Halifax Seaport is a premier arts and cultural destination for tourists and locals alike. Collaborating and working with strong partners and stakeholders, the Port community continues to deliver excellent service.

Economic Impact

The Halifax Port Authority (HPA) makes connections happen that attract and retain cargo and cruise activity to the Port of Halifax which delivers economic benefits to the local community, region and country.

• In 2022, the total impact of the Port of Halifax including Nova Scotia exporters on the Province of Nova Scotia was $4.87 billion in economic output with the direct portion being $3 billion. This level of activity generated direct and spin-off positive impacts of $2.5 billion in GDP, $1.6 billion in labour income and over 25,300 jobs.

Canada's Atlantic Gateway to the World

• Diverse cargo and cruise port
• Provides connections with 150 countries for cargo imports & exports
• One of the deepest and largest natural, ice-free harbours in the world
• Ice-free year-round and minimal tides
• Strategically located on the Great Circle Route
• Most easterly North American full-service container port
• First inbound, last outbound port to North America from Europe and the Med./Suez
• Serving major lines on transatlantic, Suez and pendulum routings including: Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia/Indian Subcontinent and the Far East
• Capacity to accommodate the world's largest vessels
• Two modern container terminals & two breakbulk terminals
• CN provides daily double-stack train departures to Montreal, Toronto and Chicago
• Only major seaport in Canada with on-dock policing services

Port of Halifax Firsts

• 1752 – North America's oldest operating salt water ferry service began service
• 1758 – North America's first naval dockyard opened
• 1837 – North America's first yacht squadron opened – The Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron
• 1970 – Halifax's South End Container Terminal opened – Canada's first common-user container terminal
• 1998 – Halifax was the first east coast North American port to welcome a post-Panamax vessel, the Regina Maersk
• 2007 – First port in Canada to achieve investment grade credit rating from Standard & Poor's
• 2007 – First port in Canada to achieve ISO 14001 certification for Environmental Management System
• 2011 – Joined Green Marine, a North American environmental certification program that stems from a voluntary initiative by the maritime industry to exceed regulatory requirements.
• 2013 – Received first vessel over 7,500 TEU on July 16, the Hapag-Lloyd Berlin Express, 7,506 TEU, at Fairview Cove Container Terminal operated by Ceres-Halifax.
• 2014 – Richmond Multipurpose Terminals expansion project complete. First shipment arrived October 14.
• 2014 – Became the first port on the East Coast of North America to provide shore power to cruise vessels.
• 2015 – Named as the 2015 Port of the Year by the International Seafarers' Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN).
• 2015 – Received first vessel over 8,000 TEU on August 3, the CMA CGM Vivaldi, 8,478 TEU, at South End Container Terminal operated by Halterm.
• 2015 – Received first vessel over 8,500 TEU on August 7, the Hapag-Lloyd Budapest Express, 8,749 TEU, at Fairview Cove Container Terminal operated by Ceres-Halifax.
• 2016 – Received largest cruise vessel call at the Port of Halifax, the Royal Caribbean International Anthem of the Seas on September 1.
• 2017 – Received first vessel over 10,000 TEU, the Zim Antwerp, 10,062 TEU, on June 29 at South End Container Terminal operated by Halterm.
• 2017 – Port of Halifax announces a record-breaking cruise season on November 24, with 292,722 guests arriving on 173 cruise vessels in 2017.
• 2018 – Fairview Cove Container Terminal operated by Ceres-Halifax receives the Hangzhou Bay Bridge on March 29, 2018. At 8,974 TEU, this is the highest volume vessel call to date at Fairview Cove Container Terminal.
• 2018 – Port of Halifax announces it has been invited to join TradeLens, a digital global shipping platform developed by Maersk and IBM through a Collaboration Agreement.
• 2018 – Record-breaking cruise season announced on November 27, 2018, with 316,869 guests on 198 vessel calls.
• 2019 – Dredging begins at the South End Container Terminal for the pier extension in January.
• 2019 – South End Container Terminal operated by Halterm receives the CMA CGM Libra on January 12, 2019. At 11,400 TEU and 364 metres length overall, this is the largest vessel call to date at South End Container Terminal.
• 2019 – Construction of caissons for the South End Container Terminal pier extension begins in Spring 2019. A caisson is basically a hollow concrete box that is built while floating (by a technique called slip forming) and sunk into place by filling with water and later rock (ballast).
• 2019 – Placement of the first caisson for the South End Container Terminal pier extension takes place on July 9, 2019. The dimensions of the caisson are 17 metres wide, 21 metres high and 33 metres long.
• 2019 - The South End Container Terminal was rebranded as “PSA Halifax.” It was previously known as “Halterm.”

More information:

• Detailed statistics
• Port Infrastructure
• More history
• Cruise Halifax
• Halifax Seaport
• Media Guidelines

Media Contacts:

Lane Farguson
Director, Communications & Marketing
Office: (902) 426-7375
E-mail: [email protected]