An Atlantic Prince Rupert?

[Cowford]

Announced recently:

A $350 million container terminal planned for the Strait of Canso has received backing from a major American firm.

Link to story: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9017118.html

If this goes through, they are betting BIG that increasing amounts of Asian traffic are going to migrate from the Panama Canal to the Suez Canal. My question: Why not further develop Halifax?

[NS VIA FAN]

If this goes through, they are betting BIG that increasing amounts of Asian traffic are going to migrate from the Panama Canal to the Suez Canal. My question: Why not further develop Halifax?

Canso Strait is very deep so no restrictions on ship size and there is a considerable amount of land available for terminals, warehousing and lay-down/assembly areas.

It would require rebuilding approximately 14 miles of the former Mulgrave Subdivision between Linwood Jct (connection with Rail America's CB&CNS Rwy) and Pirate Harbour. This was once CN’s mainline to the rail-car ferry terminal at Mulgrave prior to the opening of the Canso Causeway. Most of the abandoned right-of-way is still in place.

http://www.straitsuperport.com/

[Cowford]

Canso Strait is very deep so no restrictions on ship size and there is a considerable amount of land available for terminals, warehousing and lay-down/assembly areas.

To my knowledge, Halifax has the depth and on-dock infrastructure needed to handle post-Panamax vessels. The port is also quite underutilized at present. The new port will require a marginally longer rail haul. Is this simply a question of it being easier to build a new, modern state-of-the-art facility then to modernize an existing site that also has the inherent problems of being located within a metropolitan area?

[4266]

This issue first came to my attention through yesterdays NPR segment on the impact of the Panama Canal expansion on the Atlantic Coast. I should have figured that Cowford would be all over it
Cowford, you probably know what I'm going to ask... Do you think that the Panama Canal expansion will impact freight traffic in New England? Will Boston or Halifax be able to attract some of this post- Panamax shipping that will now have access to the east coast? If so, which one will win out? If Halifax manages to become the new "Atlantic Gateway" will this breathe new life into the SLR or MMA? And likewise for Boston and PAR/PAS?
Obviously NY/NJ would be the most likely destination for large container ships but considering the obstacle of the Bayonne Bridge and the glacial pace of NY/NJ politics there may be an opportunity for another northeastern port to capture some of that traffic first. Boston isn't much better than NY when it comes to approving major infrastructure projects (one big dig may be enough for this century) so I would place my bet with Halifax. Of course then you have a whole new set of issues with tariffs etc... Maybe NAFTA would actually work in this case...

[NellieBly]

I'm not sure I see the point of a new container terminal on the Canso Strait. It's not very far from Halifax, so it wouldn't shorten steaming distance for liner shipping companies, and it's not very far from Halifax, so it wouldn't be much closer to Canadian and US markets. So why bother?

Halifax has excellent rail access and a 60-foot channel depth, as well as the best natural harbor on the East Coast (the Bedford Basin is huge), but it has always been a minor player among East Coast ports. Why? Well, start with the fact that it's 850 miles from Halifax to Montreal -- and at that point, you're still more than 500 miles from traffic generators in the American Midwest.

Hampton Roads, by contrast, is only about 700 miles (total) from Midwestern points, and is also close to the markets of the Northeast, where 40% of the US population lives. It's also closer to the Pamana Canal than anything in Canada. At USDOT (full disclosure -- I'm a policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary) we think that probably just one East Coast port and maybe one Gulf Coast port will end up serving the large "Post-Pamamax" containerships that will be able to transit the enlarged Panama Canal. My bets are on Hampton Roads and, probably, Houston (although New Orleans may be a player). But Canada? No way.

Prince Rupert has potential as a bulk port because it's close to Asian markets and also pretty close to sources of potash, coal, and other minerals in Canada. There aren't any minerals to speak of in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, and major consumer markets are far away. I say all this despite the fact that a good friend is a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, sits on the Harbors Board, and has authored a book about the liner shipping industry. She'd agree with my assessment.