The following update was issued in October 2016:

The Port of Halifax continues to see positive year-over-year cargo growth. Third quarter 2016 throughput volumes at the container terminals are up 16.1% year-to-date. Non-containerized cargo is up 19.4% year-to-date.

A full breakdown of results is available on the HPA website at https://www.porthalifax.ca/cargo/statistics/.

The people on the ground – the terminal operators, CN, labour, carriers and shippers – are working very hard to drive cargo through Halifax, and that is a big part of this story. These efforts are supported by new and expanded services through Halifax. It was during Q3 last year that the O3 Alliance started calling Halterm and the G6 Alliance added the outbound call at Ceres. Here we are one year later, with a year-over-year increase of about 50-thousand containers (twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU).

At the start of the month, the CMA CGM Tage, a 9,365 TEU, vessel returned to Halterm. This is the largest container vessel to call on Halifax to date.

Cruise vessels carrying thousands of passengers have been arriving steadily. In the first week of October alone, Halifax welcomed an estimated 30-thousand cruise guests. The Halifax Seaport continues to develop as a cultural destination; there are several major events taking place at the Cunard Centre, and the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is experiencing one of its busiest visitor years to date.

At the port authority, we are focused on the next chapters of Port development. We are preparing for the arrival of ultra-large container ships over 10,000 TEU and we must continue to attract a critical mass of cargo to maintain Halifax’s competitive position. It is important that we are able to berth two of these ultra-large container vessels simultaneously; at the same time, we must maintain our cruise and non-containerized cargo stakeholders.

We are excited about the conversation taking place about the future of the Port of Halifax. At this stage, our job is to listen, to plan, and to make sure future port development in Halifax continues to compliment growth taking place across our city. Thank you for taking an interest.

Karen Oldfield
President and CEO
Halifax Port Authority