Carrier Spotlight

STAYING ON COURSE

OVER FIVE DECADES, ACL AND THE PORT OF HALIFAX HAVE BUILT AND MAINTAINED A STRONG PARTNERSHIP

By Tom Peters

Atlantic Container Line’s (ACL) first call on Halifax was in December 1969 when the Atlantic Star, a first generation vessel (G-1) arrived in Port.

In the 50 years since, ACL has continuously double-called the Port, providing a first call in to North America for transatlantic import cargoes and a last port of call for exports to Europe.

In 2001, the Grimaldi Group, a private company based in Naples, Italy, bought ACL. The change proved an excellent fit to ACL’s existing services.

ACL, with North American headquarters in Westfield, N.J., acts as Grimaldi’s agent for operations between North America and West Africa and between North America and the Mediterranean.

Calling four ports along the East Coast of North America, Halifax acts as ACL’s gateway for cargoes moving in and out of Central Canada and the Midwest, and for Atlantic Canada.

“With its very reliable rail service and well-established road and feeder connections, Halifax provides our customers with proven fast, dependable transit times to and from European markets,” says Fritz King, ACL’s Canadian managing director. “Halifax’s year-round accessibility and stable, professionally trained labour force, further adds to our shippers’ level of port confidence.”

King also points to the Port of Halifax’s major and ongoing infrastructure improvement and expansions, plus technological innovations. “These projects further foster the flow of freight and information to all cargo stakeholders,” he says.

It’s a solid relationship, agrees Capt. Allan Gray, president and CEO of the Halifax Port Authority. “ThePort of Halifax, and ACL, and parent company Grimaldi have a long history together that all of us at thePort of Halifax are very proud of,” he says.

ACL’s Generation 4 cargo ships are bigger, faster, greener, and more efficient than their predecessors.

In addition to a wide range of dry and specialty containers, ACL ships are multi-purpose carriers with ro/ro, project, oversized, heavy lift, and vehicle carrying capabilities.

ACL’s G-4 (Generation 4) vessels are the world’s largest combination CONRO (container and ro/ro) vessels. This latest generation of these ships, delivered in 2016 and 2017 include the Atlantic Sea, Atlantic Sail, Atlantic Sky, Atlantic Star, and Atlantic Sun. They’re bigger, faster, greener, and more efficient than their predecessors.

The first of the G-4 vessels to arrive in Halifax was Atlantic Star in 2016. “Having spent virtually all of my working life with ACL and now, the larger part of that located in Halifax, it was certainly not without some sense of pride, as well as satisfaction, that I watched the inaugural voyage of the first of our G-4 vessels, the Atlantic Star, proceed up the harbour,” King said at the time. “Not only was it a physical manifestation of our parent company Grimaldi’s strong faith in the future of the ACL brand but also a testament to the good relationships we’ve effectively established over these many years with our Canadian client base and with our many service suppliers.”

The G-4s are 296 metres long and lift up to 3,800 TEU of containers and 28,900 lane metres of ro/ro cargo, plus have room for about 1,300 vehicles. The ro/ro decks are able to accommodate oversized equipment and machinery up to 7.4 metres high.

Another significant ACL innovation is the deployment of protective on-deck container cell-guides.ACL takes pride in its record of never having lost a container overboard, King adds.

The G-4 fleet calls at the Fairview Cove terminal, operated by Ceres. “Ceres and ACL have enjoyed a loyal and trusted relationship for many years and we look forward to continuing that good friendship into the future,” says Ceres Halifax president Calvin Whidden. “ACL calls our terminal twice every week with containers and roll on/roll off cargo. Their staff locally and in New Jersey are very knowledgeable and as a result, it is easy for our staff to work with them to handle their cargo.”

Another reflection of the relationship came in May 2018, when the newly constructed Grimaldi carrier, Grande Halifax, was christened at Autoport in Eastern Passage. Ithas 63,000 gross tonnage and can transport 6,700 vehicles. 2020 was a hard year industrywide. But ACL weathered the storm.

“Back in March 2020 when COVID-19 started spreading and lockdowns were becoming the norm in Europe, we expected that 2020 would become an unprecedented disaster,” says Andrew J. Abbott, ACL’s president and CEO. “While carriers started blanking sailings and moved into survival mode, ACL’s multi-faceted cargo base proved to be an unexpected asset.”

The Grimaldi Group elected to keep ACL’s schedule intact and its team at work. “Given that background, by May over 90% of our staff were in work-from-home mode, which actually increased overall communications with customers, although face-to-face became electronic,” Abbott says. “Telephone and video conference also meant more contacts per person than sales visits could accomplish. Since all our customers were encountering the same problems there was a great understanding of our predicament.”

As the competitors stayed in dock, ACL found “a higher share in containers but particularly growth with the ro/ro high and heavy market,” Abbott adds. “Our schedule reliability improved with reduced port congestion.”

The future remains a question mark, but ACL is well positioned, in Halifax and around the world. “How long will the pandemic last and will the current cargo surge continue?” Abbott wonders. “These are questions to which no one, including our clients, have answers. Whatever the future, we are confident our stability, reliability and accessibility will carry us forward.” Q