Facilities

The Halifax Port Authority (HPA) is clearly focused on making optimal use of its existing real estate. We will continue to analyze efficient land use to strategically position the Port for future growth.

In our role as landlord, the HPA is the owner and manager of 258 acres of land surrounding the Port of Halifax including two container terminals, one of which is operated by Ceres/NYK with the other operated by Halterm Limited. We work with operators and tenants to help determine day-to-day and long term roles for security, safety and the environment.

HPA’s facilities comprise of six traditional categories of properties. These include container terminals, the grain elevator, cargo handling facilities, non-cargo facilities, the Halifax Seaport supporting cruise, and Halifax Harbour itself.

For more information on our facilities, please visit our Facilities page.

Container Terminals

The Southend Container Terminal, comprising Piers B & C, contains 71.4 acres of land and 3,200 linear feet of dock. Pier C has 6,000 feet of on-dock rail with water depth of 53 feet along 1,400 of its 2,000 foot dock. The water depth along the remaining 600 feet is approximately 45 feet. Pier B has 2,500 feet of on-dock rail with water depth of approximately 45 feet. The terminal is leased to Halterm Container Terminal Limited Partnership under a long-term lease agreement. The terminal operator has installed six gantry cranes, two of which are post-Panamax class.

The Fairview Cove Container Terminal contains 67.3 acres of land and 2,165 linear feet of dock. The terminal is leased to NYK/Ceres under a long-term agreement. The terminal has 11,000 feet of on-dock rail. Water depth at the dock is a minimum of 55 feet along the entire length of the berth. The terminal operator added two new Super Post-Panamax cranes in 2007.   This will provide a total of six cranes at the facility.

HPA has acquired land on Kempt Road adjacent to the terminal which has accommodated the development of a new state of the art truck marshalling and security access controlled facility.  The reclaimed space on the terminal will be used for cargo handling.  Property on Bayne Street has also been acquired by HPA for Port requirements.

Grain Elevator

The Halifax Grain Elevator is situated west of Ocean Terminals and is connected to Pier 26, Pier 28 and Dover Mills Limited through a system of galleries and conveyors. Pier 25 is equipped with a marine leg for receiving grain. Pier 28 is equipped with six grain towers capable of delivering 50,000 bushels of grain per hour.The facility is operated by the Halifax Grain Elevator Limited under lease from HPA. The purpose of the facility is to provide a secure supply of feed for the livestock industry in the Province and to provide export opportunities for wood pellets and grain products. The grain elevator services Dover Mills. The grain elevator has a storage capacity of 144,290 tonnes and a practical turnover capacity of 12 times per year.

Cargo Handling Facilities

General cargo and a small number of containers are handled at other HPA facilities, including Pier A, Pier A-1, Pier 24, and Pier 9A. All are serviced by on-dock rail service and can handle containers, ro/ro, breakbulk and heavy lift cargo. Pier 9A is a marine terminal operated by Scotia Terminals under lease from HPA.  Scotia Terminals primary cargo is breakbulk (nickel sulphides).

Non-Cargo Facilities

The current non-cargo facilities include the gear rooms and maintenance buildings at Ocean Terminals, Dover Mills property, Immigration Annex Building, Administration Building, Central Office Bay, Sheds 20, 21, 22, Cunard Centre, Film and Media Centre and property, HPA Wedge, Seaport parking lot, Sheds 9 & 9B at Richmond Terminals, property at Wrights Cove, the Dartmouth Pier and land west of Shed 9.

The maintenance buildings and Administration Building are used by the HPA. Pier 9 Sheds and Pier 9C and 9D are multi-tenant marine industrial facilities which have been leased to a variety of businesses serving the marine industry. These sheds have direct access to berths at Richmond terminals and many tenants benefit from the ability of ships to come ‘alongside’.

Halifax Seaport

Extending from Piers 19 to 23 along the southern end of Halifax waterfront, the Seaport currently includes Pier 21- Canada's Immigration Museum , Pavilion 22 a dedicated cruise passenger terminal, Cunard Centre, NSCAD University and Garrison Brewery. By 2015 the area will be transformed to enhance the existing cultural and arts districts. The site is characterized by long, one and two storey Pier Sheds that extend along the harbour's edge. The Sheds were originally used to warehouse goods being transferred to and from ships. In recent years the sheds have been under utilized since the majority of cargo is now containerized and comes through the container terminals. HPA re-assessed the use of these properties and decided to expand the existing arts and culture district that was already present in the area, into what is now known as the Halifax Seaport.

Halifax Harbour

The area of navigable waters in the Halifax Harbour under the management of the HPA extends a distance of 10.3 miles from the Harbour Limit to the end of Bedford Basin and contains approximately 12.3 square miles of land covered by water, including the Northwest Arm.

Imperial Oil, Irving Oil, National Gypsum, Nova Scotia Power, DND, Secunda, Cherubini Metal Works, Halifax Shipyard and others lease waterlots in the Harbour to berth vessels and carry out marine operations.