Halifax’s Halterm terminal to invest $10m in capacity enhancements

The Eastern Canada port terminal will purchase three new ship-to-shore cranes and increase reefer capacity by 25 percent within 12 months, according to Halterm International Container Terminal CEO Kim Holtermand.    Halterm International Container Terminal at the Eastern Canadian port of Halifax has committed to a $10 million investment in port capacity expansion.
   The terminal announced that, based on its increased container traffic in 2016 and the first half of 2017, it plans to extend its container and reefer handling capabilities by 25 percent over the next 12 months.
   Investments of $10 million worth of new equipment will support the existing five ship-to-shore cranes, the terminal said.
   “Halterm provides global container carriers with fast and efficient access to eastern Canada and the Halifac supply-chain reaches far in-land and to the US Midwest,” said CEO Kim Holtermand. “After significant ship-to-shore crane investments delivered into the operation in early 2014, it is the right time to bring on new rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs) which will be arriving in February and October of next year.” Holtermand noted that the first crane will arrive in February while the final two will arrive in October.
   Halterm utilizes mixed equipment assets for stacking, including new Konecranes Reach-Stackers, RTGs and toplift forklifts. The three new “1 over 5” RTGs from Konecranes will span six lanes and allow Halterm to stack containers five-high across import and export zones, an increase in yard capacity of 160,000 TEUs – or 40 percent overall – said the terminal.
   “Our five active ship-to-shore cranes, with outreach up to 22 containers wide are in excellent working condition and still under-utilized with current berth commitments. It is the right time to get out ahead of our customer’s service requirements, amid rising volumes and deliver in all areas of the container facility,” said Holtermand.
   Halterm is also in the process of optimizing its container yard by removing three redundant 1970’s era ship-to-shore crane assets and adding new reefer capacity. The changes will increase reefer capacity by 25 percent to over 600 reefer plugs, the terminal stated.
   According to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting, the Halterm Container Terminal is called by eight container services, including the OCEAN Alliance Columbus Pendulum service and THE Alliance EC5 service. Carriers that call the terminal include ZIM, K Line, NYK, Yang Ming, CMA CMG, Maersk Line, Eimskip, APL, Hapag-Lloyd, Tropical Shipping and Melfi Marine.