Hamilton Port sees Halifax connection as key to intermodal cargo service

HAMILTON, Ont. — Port of Hamilton authorities haven’t given up on a “short sea” shipping strategy in the Great Lakes and are now looking at a Halifax connection to make it happen.

According to a recent report by the Halifax Chronicle Herald, the Hamilton Port Authority wants to create a Great Lakes transportation hub by establishing a weekly cargo ferry service between the two regions via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The service, says HPA President Keith Robson, would allow container shippers to bypass rail to and from Halifax and Central Canada.

The largest vessel that could sail the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes would have capacity for about 1,050 TEUs.

Halifax would be the end point of the short-sea
shipping system the Hamilton Port has in mind

“We are not (ready) yet. We are looking at the costs and we are talking to a number of big liner companies and getting quite a lot of interest in the potential development of this service,” Robson was quoted as saying by the Herald.

Hamilton, one of the country’s largest steel-producing regions and located in the middle of the busy Golden Horseshoe industrial corridor, has been musing about a ferry service across the Great Lakes for years.

In 2004, the HPA proposed a truck-only ferry across Lake Ontario between Hamilton and Oswego, N.Y. A similar ferry operated between Oswego and Oshawa, Ont. 20 years ago.

While those plans have yet to materialize, Robson told the Herald that Oswego could still play a part in the winter when the St. Lawrence Seaway is closed.

He suggests containers would be transported via water from Halifax up the Hudson River to Albany, N.Y., then hauled by highway to Oswego and loaded onto a drop trailer ferry destined for Hamilton. Robson said trucking companies in both Canada and the U.S. are interested.

When TodaysTrucking.com polled a handful of large carriers along the Golden Horseshoe in 2004 about a possible Hamilton-N.Y. service, most remained skeptical. One fleet said that even with all its faults, rail intermodal is more conducive to partnering with trucking than marine.

However, much has changed — even in two short years, — as carriers facing an ever-growing driver shortage look for any way they can to open up additional capacity.

Although shipping by rail from Halifax may appear to be quicker, Robson says his short sea plan would be competitive with the railways when loading delays and infrastructure impediments are taken into account.

— with files from the Halifax Chronicle Herald