The Montreal strike is over

 The day after a holiday, (even it it was one that was not widely observed) is usually a busy catch up day. Today Tuesday, November 12, was no exception in Halifax harbour with a number of comings and goings of interest. Therefore there will be two posts today, of which this is the first.

The big news comes from Ottawa where the Federal Minister of Labour ordered a return to work for longshore workers in Vancouver and Montreal and the enforcement of binding arbitraiton in the two ports and in the Port of Quebec City where there has also been a long standing labour issue. The announcement follows on the heels of a legal strike, failed negotiations and the employers locking out the workers.

Citing damage to the Canadian economy and Canada's reputation in the world as a reliable trading partner, the Minister of course failed to mention that the Ports of Halifax and Saint John have pretty much taken the edge off the Montreal strike - granted there have been the inevitable delays in delivering and dispatching cargo, as trucks and trains had the burden of extra cargo.

A large proportion of the cargo running into the Port of Montreal goes west to Toronto and the US mid-west, so the strike, at most, added a day or two for import cargo and due to shorter sailing time to Halifax may have added the same or less time to export cargo. It should be noted that Montreal is also a grian exporting ports, and certainly generates considerable local cargo.

In any event the two Halifax container terminals had extra space, openings in schedules and the equipment and workforce to handle the extra work involved in handling Montreal cargo. It was interesting to see all the additional containers.

It may be some time before things return to normal as some ships will continue to come to Halifax to pick up "stranded" boxes. Others, that would be coming anyway to lighten draft or top off, may handle more than the usual quantity. Some ships that are already en route and diverted to Halifax will have to come anyway as their cargo is already here.

Today's one MSC arrival, MSC Annick from Sines, Portugal, on the Med-Canada service, has been standing by off Halifax since Saturday November 9 (a fleet mate MSC Lisa has been anchored off this port since at least November 6 and is now due tomorrow.)

The MSC Annick would normally only be here to lighten off to St.Lawrence River draft, but may have more cargo to off load here now, but could well have been planning to completely discharge and load.

MSC Annick has had seven previous names and has operated for several major container lines. Another of MSC's older ships, it was built in 1998 by Hyundai, Ulsan. A 40,306 gt, 52,329 dwt vessel it has a relatively modest (published) capacity of 3987 TEU.

Arriving from Montreal to top up, MSC Annick was operating at freshwater draft in this 2021 photo.

 The ship has carried the names 1998: Mare Superum, 98: Elbe Bridge, 2004: P+O Nedlloyd Cartagena, 2005: Maersk Tirana, 2006: Dalian Express, 2006: Maersk Tirana, 2009: Mare Superum, 2013: MSC Annick.

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