ZIM moves

 Another shoe dropped today (August 4) in the rationalization of container lines between the two container terminals in the Port of Halifax. Under common management of PSA, previous shifts saw some MSC ships moving from the South End Container Terminal (SECT) to PSA Fairview Cove and some Alliance ships moving from Fairview to the SECT. Then there was SPMI moving its Nolhan Ava on its weekly service to St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia from Fairview Cove to the SECT. 

Yesterday (see post) it was the long expected Oceanex move from the South End  to Fairview Cove. Predictably there were many more trucks at the Fairview gate today, and at one time they were lined up outside the property.

Most of these trucks were for Oceanex and therefore would have been diverted from going through downtown (to the relief of the truck drivers and the rest of the population) but some of the boxes were likely interchanges from the South End that had to travel the length of the peninsula to reach Fairview. Planned changes to the nearby Windsor Street Exchange, and better truck access to PSA Fairview Cove are in the planning stages, but so far, from the truck traffic point of view, this is just relocating the congestion. (I even noticed one the SECT yard tractors on a flat bed, possibly also moving north!)

This afternoon the next big shoe began to drop (the analogy is not a great one, since it is a two step drop!)

ZIM's CFX feeder service from Halifax to Kingston, Jamaica (and way ports), currently operated by two ships, the Contship Art since July 28, and the Contship Leo since October 2011 had the latter ship at the South End terminal this morning. This afternoon it moved to Bedford Basin anchorage.

This is the first sign of ZIM's move to Fairview Cove with its ZCA service. Presumably the Contship Leo cleared out empties and waiting boxes at the SECT and will await tomorrow's arrival of ZIM Vancouver which will now dock at PSA Fairview Cove (the second part of the shoe to drop).

This is a major shift, since ZIM was an early (and for many years the largest) customer at the South End Container Terminal - the former Halterm, now PSA Halifax Atlantic Gateway. The move is partly due to expansion and other changes at the South End that will disrupt normal operations. Demolition, construciotn of new buildings, additional rail sidings, worker parking and truck gate changes are in the works). Also, since ZIM uses relatively small ships, it can move whereas other lines use ships that are too large to reach Fairview.

This June 19, 1977 view of the Halterm facility, shows the grey hulled ZIM New York approaching Pier 41. This view has already changed considerably, but is due to change even more in the near future. All of the buildings in the picture are or will be gone when the expansion is completed.

Built by Italcantieri SpA, Genoa in 1972, the ZIM New York was launched as the Thermopylae, but it never sailed with the name of the famous China tea clipper as it was immediately chartered by Schiffs. Meyer KG to ZIM Israel Navigation Company. (ZIM bought the ship in 1980 and it was scrapped in 1991.) The 25,831 gt, 25,200 dwt ship had a capacity of 1426 TEU, and dimensions of 208.1m LOA x 30.6m. It was considered sizeable at the time.

By comparison the ZIM Vancouver is a 39,906 gt, 50,532 dwt vessel, built in 2007 by Dalian #2 Shipbuilding Industry and has a capaciity of 4250 TEU, with dimensions of 263.23 m LOA x 32.20 m. Hull shape and deck load height have been maximized for containers since 1972! Even so ZIM Vancouver would be considered inefficient in certain trades.

ZIM's debut at Fairview Cove may have been delayed somewhat as the ship NYK Constellation, which was supposed to sail late this afternoon, and free up the berth, has been rescheduled for late tonight. (See yesterday's post for more on that ship.) This caused Contship Leo to anchor and ZIM Vancouver to change its pilot order from 1630 hrs today to 1530 0530 hrs tomorrow. An 23 12 hour delay is certainly an inauspicious start to the new arrangement.

As a matter of record, PSA Fairview Cove was also working the Oceanex Sanderling at the west berth (at the RoRo ramp) on its usual Friday schedule, and SECT was working the Nolhan Ava at Pier 42, on its Friday schedule, and the ONE Grus (see today's earlier post) at Pier 41.

 Nolhan Ava at Pier 42 (it was at Pier 31 from yesterday for maintenance.) Not sure where it will work RoRo traffic - if any (I saw two cars on flat deck containers).

 

ONE Grus with the big cranes at Pier 41. 

Not a ZIM box in sight for the first time in 50 plus years.

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