By Avery Mullen
The Port of Halifax’s recently-appointed chief executive officer, Fulvio Fracassi, said this week the port is well-positioned to benefit from a potential diversifying of Canada’s trade partners, despite two major shipping lines contemplating trimming their services to Halifax since the start of the new year.
Speaking Wednesday after a press conference to announce federal funding for a handful of green shipping initiatives, Fracessi said the port’s main business is ready to function as a gateway to other parts of the globe, with much of its cargo volume tied not to the United States, but rather to further-flung destinations.
“I think the Port of Halifax has an essential role to play in terms of facilitating world trade and assisting with diversification,” said Fracassi.
“We continue to focus on that … along with our other priority, in terms of ensuring that everything we do is (managed) through a lens of sustainability, where we focus on lowering our emissions through decarbonization, and being well-integrated within the community here, to make sure that we’re all working in concert to advance the public interest — and make Canada stronger in the face of some of the challenges that we’re currently facing.”
The press conference at which Fracassi was speaking included an announcement of $22.5 million of funding from Transport Canada for the port to explore alternative fuels and energy-sources as part of its emissions-reduction efforts, including for efforts to electrify the port, conduct a slate of feasibility studies, purchase more efficient equipment and conduct a risk-assessment about hosting vessels powered by alternative fuels.
Most commercial freighters are currently powered by carbon-intensive heavy fuel oil, and the European Federation for Transport and Environment estimates the industry accounts for about three per cent of global emissions, with the threat to reach 10 per cent by 2050 on its current trajectory.
The Transport Canada funding comes as part of the federal government’s Green Shipping Corridor Program, which has involved the port of Halifax partnering with Hamburg, Germany, to establish environmentally-friendly trade connections between the two cities.
“This announcement…positions us competitively for the future as the marine industry transitions to alternative fuels,” said Fracessi. “It ensures that we do that in an environmentally-responsible way by providing us the capacity to meet our decarbonization goals. And it also is a key pillar vis à vis the community, in terms of positioning the port to continue to do its work, in terms of contributing to international trade and to the economic development not only to the city of Halifax, but the province, the region and the country.”
The two major shipping lines that have eyed scaling back their commitments to Halifax are MSC and Ocean Network Express.
MSC, or the Mediterranean Shipping Company, has cut a weekly call at the port’s South End terminal operated by PSA Halifax. The trimmed calls were part of its Mediterranean-Canadian shipping corridor, which begins in Gioia Tauro, Italy and ends in Montreal. MSC’s websites, however, does still show at least one scheduled Med Canadian stop in Halifax later this month.
Ocean Network Express, meanwhile, has eyed reducing service to the port’s terminal in North End Halifax, PSA Halifax Fairview Cove. Weekly calls there still appear on its published schedule via its Atlantic 5 route, though, which makes several stops in Europe before crossing the Atlantic to Halifax and heading south towards Florida and then the Panama Canal.
“The Port of Halifax continues to be competitively positioned,” said Fracassi. “It is an essential gateway. MSC has made substantial investment here.
“We are working closely with our partners to retain and attract new business to the port. We are working with PSA, CN (Canadian National) and others to ensure that the port operates as efficiently as possible. We’re going to continue to go in that direction so that we can continue to play a role as an essential gateway and to contribute to the economic development and diversification of trade for Halifax, the province and the country.”
In referencing MSC’s investments, Fracassi was likely referring to the purchase last summer by an MSC subsidiary of a 49 per cent stake in PSA Halifax which operates two of the port’s four container terminals.
Fracassi, who replaced CEO Capt. Allan Gray in September, is a lawyer who previously specialized in international trade and went on to helm the Laurentian Pilotage Authority for over a decade.
“It’s been a whole four-and-a-half months or so that I’ve been here in Halifax and with the port,” mused Fracassi to The Macdonald Notebook. “I’m thrilled to be here and have the opportunity to lead this amazing organization, to build on some excellent work that’s been done by the port employees and my predecessor.”
Port of Halifax CEO Fulvio Fracassi says the organization is well-positioned to participate in attempts by government and industry to diversify Canada’s trading partners, with much of its cargo already flowing to and from ports outside of North America.
