The Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia is struggling to retain its existing container business and its statistics for the first six months of the year make grim reading.
Halifax’s throughput slid 7.5% last year to 490,000 TEU and the 203,910 TEU it handled in the first half of this year represents a further 16.3% decline. Halifax Port Authority (HPA) attributes the decline to the loss of two weekly services last year being fully reflected in its statistics for the first time, the high value of the Canadian dollar and a weaker US economy.
HPA’s argument that the “decrease in containerized cargo is not a problem unique to the Port of Halifax - ports all over North America are facing downturns” is not watertight, however. Montreal recorded an 18.5% increase in import boxes and a 5% increase in export boxes in the first quarter.
Import volumes at some ports are falling, particularly at Virginia, where they were off 10% in the first quarter, but this was more than compensated for by a 16% increase in export containers. Baltimore, too, saw a 12% decline in import volume last year (by tonnage), but achieved a positive net result on the back of a 35% boost in exports.
While New York/New Jersey, Virginia, Montreal, Baltimore and Boston are all expecting a net increase in volume this year, Halifax is looking at its worst performance in more than 10 years. CN, the only rail line serving the port, has combined its twice daily service into a single train after utilisation rates on each fell below 50%.
Meanwhile, AMP Terminals (APMT) has failed in its attempt to lure a five-line consortium from Virginia International Terminals (VIT) to its new terminal in Portsmouth. APMT has been courting the Cosco, K-Line, Yang Ming (CKY) consortium as well as Hanjin and United Arab Shipping (HU).
The two groups joined to form the five-line CKYHU consortium, which is VIT’s biggest customer, and after negotiating with both parties struck a 10-year deal with VIT. AMPT has put considerable effort into showcasing its automated Portsmouth terminal as the most efficient in North America, but aside from some Evergreen services it has yet to attract a customer away from VIT and with this most recent deal all existing business is covered with long-term deals.
