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Tue,Nov 19,2013
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Halifax is forging closer ties with China (3)

By Li Xuejiang (People's Daily Online)    14:48, November 19, 2013
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Grain Facilities of the port: Halifax is an important port for exporting the Canadian grain.(Photo/Li Xuejiang)

One of the questions, the reporter brought up to Ms. Oldfield during the interview: “Comparing to New York, what are the competitive advantages for Halifax?” Ms. Oldfield pointed out the geographic location and port natural conditions. The answer surprised the reporter. Ms. Oldfield explained the Port of Halifax has a closer sailing distance with Europe compared to New York. From Europe or via the Suez Canal, sailing to Halifax has close to two days of time saving. Our reporter then realized why many victims and survivors of the Titanic were sent to Halifax - because of its closer proximity. Ms. Oldfield also mentioned for cargo designated to Chicago via the Suez, Halifax is three days quicker than New York. In today’s global supply chain, time is money. CN rail not only connects Canada’s east and west coasts, it also has a huge rail network within the Great Lakes area, including Chicago, Detroit and the American mid-west. This vast network reaches all the way down to Houston and New Orleans and creates a big “T” shape rail network in the middle of the North American continent. Intermodal connections are fast and efficient.

Ms. Oldfield also told the reporter that Halifax is one of the only two ports on the Atlantic coast that can accommodate fully laden post Panama ships. Although the Port of New York handles much more cargo volume, the harbour depth in New York is limited and has bridge height constrains. These limit the container ship’s load capacity and height. For those reasons, Halifax and New York are complimentary to each other. Via the Suez Canal, container ships come in to Halifax’s deep port fully loaded to offload the top two layers of containers before sailing to New York. Before heading back, they return to Halifax to top up before heading back the Far East. This helps achieve ultimate transportation efficiency and operational excellence. The terminal in Halifax recently imported two new super post-Panamax cranes from Shanghai, with 40 meters high, 60 meters reach, enough for 23 containers on the big ships.

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(Editor:ZhangQian、Yao Chun)

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