By TOM PETERS
July 19, 2010
The major infrastructure improvements at the Fairview Cove container terminal in Halifax in the past year or so have helped boost productivity at the facility, said Calvin Whidden. Mr. Whidden, recently appointed senior vice-president for Canadian operations for Cerescorp, operator of the Fairview Cove terminal, said container lifts have improved significantly. He is also the Ceres’ spokesman responsible for all its operations in Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver.
“Over the pass few years,” he said, “we have done a rail expansion, truck gate improvements and added two post-Panamax cranes − that gives us three post-Panamax − which gives us much higher hoist speeds, higher capacity and higher reach. So our production has gone from 21 and 22 lifts per hour to exceeding 30 consistently.”
On the rail side, the terminal has increased its on-dock rail to 12,000 feet and, with CN delivering about 4,000 feet of rail cars daily, Ceres has been able to reduce container dwell times on the dock.
“CN has made adjustments,” Mr. Whidden said, “and is delivering more rail cars at the first of the week for us. That has probably taken about a day off dwell times, on average.”
The terminal is also doing considerable moves right to rail cars from vessels.
The new automated truck gate has also seen improvements in efficiency.
“The new gate has made a massive difference,” he added. “In the past, processing trucks manually we couldn’t do any more than 24 trucks per hour. Now we are doing 50 to 60 trucks per hour and could do more if we had to. The driver doesn’t have to get out of his truck so we process trucks in seconds not minutes.”
In the past, trucking companies doing short hauls from the terminal looked for four trips a day per truck. Some trucks are now doing five trips a day, he said.
Mr. Whidden said the Halifax terminal continues to see an increase in cargo this year. The terminal has handled about 30 per cent more containers in the first six months of this year compared to the same period in 2009.