Halterm orders super post-Panamax crane

The terminal, which also is acquiring lifting and container yard equipment, has the option to buy another crane this year.    The Port of Halifax’s Halterm Container Terminal announced Monday it is acquiring a super post-Panamax ship-to-shore gantry crane along with associated lifting equipment and container yard equipment.
   The crane, due in June 2020, will be added to the terminal’s main berth alongside four existing super post-Panamax cranes and one Panamax unit. The new crane will “be capable of spanning the largest vessels being deployed on North America’s east coast,” according to a press release.
   The terminal also has an option to acquire another ship-to-shore crane this year.
   In addition to the super post-Panamax crane, Halterm also has an order for two rubber-tired gantry cranes and nine terminal tractors and trailers.
   The equipment is to further support the Halifax Port Authority’s development of Halterm’s deep-water main berth to 800 meters in length, per the release.
   Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, which purchased Halterm in 2006, is selling it as well as Fraser Surrey Docks near Vancouver, British Columbia, and Penn Terminals in Eddystone, Pa., in a process that is expected to conclude in the first quarter of this year. The terminals are the last assets held by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners I, an invesment fund that is coming to the end of its 12-year lifespan.
   The Canadian National Railway Co. put in a preliminary bid to acquire Halterm, Jean-Jacques Ruest, chief executive officer of CN, told Canada’s Financial Post in December.
    Speaking to investment analysts last month, Keith Reardon, senior vice president of consumer product supply chain growth at CN, said the investment in Halifax is “a play that we want to make. We feel we will be successful. We are going to market it as Prince Rupert of the East and we feel it has the exact same attributes and we will be successful.”