Five-member Green Alliance shipping consortium to stop calling Port of Halifax, effective September; Southeast Asian consortium comprises up to 5% of port's container business
Alison Gallant
LOS ANGELES
,
August 11, 2011
(Industry Intelligence)
–
The five-member Green Alliance shipping consortium is dropping the Port of Halifax off its North American weekly stops, costing the port up to 5% of its container business, CBC News reported Aug. 10.
The consortium, comprised of companies from Southeast Asia and boasting some of the biggest containerships in the business, said it’s skipping Halifax starting in September in an effort to improve on-time performance on its North American route. Other North American ports, New York and Savannah, will remain on the company’s weekly call.
The decision relates to the lack of population concentrated in Halifax and not to cost or service issues, according to Michele Peveril, spokesperson for the port. One consortium member, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd., known in the industry as “K Line,” said it would be reviewing the route in 2012, according to Peveril.
A representative for another consortium member, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., said he did not know of a plan to review the route next year.
The news comes as a blow to the port’s Halterm facility, which is undergoing a multimillion-dollar expansion to handle the world’s biggest container ships.
The port is expecting other shipping companies that call Halifax and call into Asia to pick up the slack so companies like Canadian Tire Corp. can still unload their goods at the port.
In 2010, container traffic grew at the port, but the port is still at less than 50% capacity.
The primary source of this article is CBC news, Ottawa, Canada, Aug. 10, 2011.
* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.
