Halifax Express - first visit with new name

1. Halifax Express passes west of George's Island inbound.

2. The ship's name appears in Greek on the stern.

Halifax Express arrived this morning for Hapag-Lloyd for the first time with that name. Until January 1 the ship had carried the name New York Express, but was renamed to free up the name for a new ship.

Owned by the Greek firm Costamare, the ship has been on charter to Hapag-Lloyd since it was built in 2000 at Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea. It has a capacity of 4,890 TEU and a gross tonnage of 54,437.

It is not unheard of for shipping companies to recognize Halifax in their naming schemes, but there has not been a container ship since Melfi Lines recognized the port with Melfi Halifax in 2004.

There have been numerous Canadian ships with the name recently, including HMCS Halifax, the now strike bound ferry Halifax III , the tug Point Halifax (no longer based in Halifax) and CSL bulk carrier Halifax which went for scrap last year.

In the 1960s Bibby Lines' Halifax City was a regular caller until superseded by container ships in 1972.

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HAPAG-Lloyd's future, sunny or gloomy?

1. Tokyo Express sails 2011-02-05 on a sunny day.

2. New York Express arrives 2011-02-06 on a gloomy day.

HAPAG-Lloyd, the world's fifth largest container line, and Halifax's largest container customer is apparently set to be "floated" by IPO. The shipping company is now owned 49.8% by TUI a German travel company and 50.2% by the Albert Ballin Group (which consists of an number of backers.)

TUI has been trying to unload its share of H-L for several years, but the economy stalled efforts to float it on the stock market. A return to prosperity by Maersk (the world's largest) and a settling down of concerns about MSC and CMA/CGM (the #2 and #3 lines) have lead to reports that TUI will soon be making a move to sell about half of its current stake by IPO.

There is still concern among financiers as to who might be in the market for such a small chunk of H-L, since most major players would want a majority. There is also the issue of whether H-L is profitable enough to bring in a good price. Time will tell.

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In the meantime HAPAG-Lloyd continues to stream in and out of Halifax on a regular schedule.

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