Port of Halifax receives its largest-ever containership

The 10,062-TEU ZIM Antwerp, which is 1,145 feet long and has a 149-foot beam, arrived Thursday afternoon at the East Coast Canadian port’s Halterm International Container Terminal.

   The Port of Halifax on June 29 received the largest containerized cargo vessel call in its long history.
   The ZIM Antwerp, which weighs in at 349 meters long (1,145 feet), with a 45.6-meter (149-foot) beam and 10,062 TEUs of capacity, arrived at Halterm International Container Terminal around noon local time. The Liberia-flagged vessel, operated by ZIM Integrated Shipping Ltd., is eight years old, with a deadweight of 114,000 gross tons.
   “At Halterm we have invested and continue to invest in the equipment, people and services required to handle the larger ships that have followed the widening of the Panama Canal,” terminal Chief Executive Officer Kim Holtermand said in a statement. “The arrival of the ZIM Antwerp at Halterm plays to our strengths as a deep-water, big ship international container terminal.”
   “This is a great day for our members and a good time to recognize the long-term commitment of ZIM, over forty-five years, to this port and its workforce,” added Kevin Piper, president and business agent of the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 269. “We look forward to working with ZIM in this era of mega vessels, and welcome continued growth at Halterm and the flow of benefits to our community.”
   Halifax Port Authority President and CEO Karen Oldfield called the arrival “a very exciting day for the Halifax port community,” as well as for all of Nova Scotia.
   “With the arrival of the first vessel over 10,000 TEU, Halifax is taking part in the next stage in international shipping along the East Coast of North America,” Oldfield said.
   The Port of Halifax’s first international container terminal officially opened in 1969, but the port itself traces its roots back to the mid-1700s, when the city established a saltwater ferry service and naval dockyard. The port handles over 1,500 vessels on an annual basis.