COSCO adding second service at Port of Halifax

China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) is adding a second service at the Port of Halifax. The line will add Halifax to its existing GENYEX – Genoa Express service presently calling Genoa and New York. The service will directly link Canada to the eastern and western Mediterranean via the Italian port of Genoa.

The inaugural Halifax call is scheduled for May 10th with the COSCO vessel “MV Xiang Yun He”. This will become a full weekly service by the third quarter 2001 with the addition of a third ship. Participating vessels are in the 1,700 TEU range. With a service speed capable of 22 knots, transit to Genoa from Halifax will be seven days.

The new COSCO service will call at the Fairview Cove Container Terminal,operated by Cerescorp Company.

The general agent for the service in Canada is China Ocean Shipping (EastCanada) Inc., which has offices in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

This is the second service for COSCO in Halifax. The line also calls the Port with its “TAS-1” transatlantic service which was inaugurated in October 1998.

Halifax celebrated a record year in 2000 with a 19 percent increase in containerized traffic to 548 thousand TEUs.