Halifax Autoport serves as gateway to Canada for 200,000 vehicles
All those vehicles made in Europe and other countries across the pond have to be brought to North America in some manner. Cadillac used to fly the Allante convertible from Italy to America in custom Boeing 747 jumbo jets, an outrageously expensive proposition. But the majority of the world’s automakers, even premium brands BMW and Mercedes, ferry their cars by ship.
Halifax Autoport plays host to these sea monsters. It’s one of the world’s largest vehicle processing and shipment facilities, handling nearly 185,000 vehicles every year.
Those jumbo jets deployed by Cadillac could carry 56 cars at a time. The enormous ocean carriers docking at Autoport, however, are much more commodious. Spanning about 200 metres from stem to stern, ships such as the Asian Majesty and MSC Cristiana can deliver about 5,500 cars at a time.
The vessels are simultaneously cubist and grand, hauling their cargo like an automotive layer cake. They have upwards of a dozen decks, and a peek inside one of these roll-on/roll-off vessels reveals cars packed cheek-tojowl, inches apart and tied down securely.
Once the vessels arrive at Autoport, the company’s many employees working as drivers must physically get in the cars and drive them off the ship. This requires a dizzying amount of organization, as each brand has its own parking spot in one of Autoport’s huge marshalling yards. Parking a Land Rover in the BMW area wouldn’t be helpful.
The yards occupy space on both sides of Nova Scotia’s busy Route 332, meaning drivers must navigate across a public road or two for the vehicle to reach its correct spot.
Once parked, drivers are ferried back to the ship to perform the routine again. This happens hundreds of times during each delivery, and since vessels only make money while they’re at sea, it’s critical to get the cars unloaded as quickly and safely as possible.
Being a subsidiary of CN, it should be no surprise that trains are involved in shipping the vehicles from the Autoport marshalling yards to their final destinations. Rail cars, most of which have three levels, stand ready at the foot of Autoport’s parking areas. While the walls of the rail cars have slats to provide ventilation, they’re designed to make it difficult for prying eyes to see what brand of car is riding the rails.
A small percentage of vehicles leave Autoport on trailer, depending on brand and final destination. It’s not uncommon for residents of Nova Scotia to see tractor trailers hauling a load of fresh Audis, all wrapped like Christmas presents to ward off in-transit damage.
Autoport employees know what they’re doing, but as with most aspects of life, not everything works smoothly. In July, an Ontario court ruled that Halifax Autoport was on the hook for a $10,000-a-day bill stemming from the storage and preservation of 2,966 BMW and Mini vehicles. Problems began during brutal winter weather in February 2015, when the cars were exposed to harsh conditions. BMW argued the exposure to salt and ice created a safety hazard, necessitating a recall.
BMW said it’s impossible to determine the extent of damage without destructive tests, and as a result, none of the vehicles could be made roadworthy and sold. The automaker says it has been spending about $10,000 a day — roughly $3.5 million a year — to keep the vehicles at three sites in Canada.
Autoport denies any liability, but the appellate court decision has ordered Autoport to pay for the storage to date.
These challenges don’t slow down the folks working at Autoport, or the number of vehicles being delivered by ship.
With the sea on one side and a network of North American rail on the other, Halifax is perfectly positioned to play a crucial role in the delivery of snazzy European metal to thousands of customers across the continent.