Who will it be - CMA CGM a prime candidate

The recent mention of a new line coming into Halifax, and one that is familiar with the port, got the diggers working and one industrious reader has come up with CMA CGM.
Left out of the eventual Maersk / MSC Alliance, they have been particularly aggressive of late and therefore seem logical. 

In fact the line has already posted three port calls, starting with CMA CGM Vivaldi on August 2. The Halifax Employers Association list has it calling at Halterm.

This is a big ship, 90,745 grt, 100,400 dwt, 8238 TEU (including 700 reefer), built in 2005 by Hyundai, Ulsan. It is operated through MC-Seamax of Hartfourd, CT, one of those alternate financing operations that leases ships back to shipping lines.

CMA CGM is a partner with China Shipping and UASC (United Arab Shipping) in the Ocean Three Alliance and operates what they call the Columbus Loop. Starting in Vancouver/Seattle, the ships make several port calls in Asia (Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Yantian, Hong Kong, Vung Tau, Port Kelang), then head direct and non-stop via Suez to New York, Norfolk and Savannah. Adding Halifax would be a good move for them and for Halifax. As first North American port of call westbound, it would shave a day or two off a long haul. It would also give Halifax a much needed reputational boost with a negative local press corps.

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CMA-CGM and Maersk and get turned down

1. Maersk Penang will not be ferrying empty containers from Montreal to Halifax. Note the CMA-CGM, Maersk (including Maersk-Sea-Land, SAF Marine, P&O Neddloyd, APL) and no-name containers.

As mentioned in a previous post last week :

http://shipfax.blogspot.com/2012/02/maersk-pembroke-hard-driven-ship.html

There are 100 containers in Montreal that are wanted in Halifax by CMA-CGM. They had applied to use Maersk Penang on its regular run to pick then up in Montreal and drop them off in Halifax. Since this would constitute a coastal trip by a non-Canadian flag ship, CMA-CGM Canada Ltd applied to the Canadian Transportation Agency for a coasting license (or waiver).

The coasting license would only be granted if there were no suitable Canadian ship to perform the activity. (CTA does not reckon costs as part of their assessment).

Predictably, CTA turned down the application, based on presentations by two Canadian shipping companies. Oceanex was one, and Nunavut Eastern Arctic (an arm of Logistec) was the other.

It is interesting to read the decision by CTA:

https://www.otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/ruling/49-w-2012

It is good to know that the Canadian coastal shipping trade is being protected, but it is equally interesting to realize that despite the "availability" of "suitable" ships, there is really no way to transport empty containers from Montreal to Halifax on anything like an economical basis.

There is just not enough trade to justify a shipping line, or even the occasional tramp voyage. Trucks and trains (and I do not object to them on principal) are apparently also not an economical option. (Imagine one hundred trucks or fifty double stack rail cars!)

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