Imported Volkswagens sit at Autoport, one of North Americas largest vehicle processing and trans-shipment facilities, in Eastern Passage, N.S. on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009.Andrew Vaughan / Canadian Press Its part of the automotive food chain that can remain invisible in other parts of the country. All those vehicles made in Europe and other countries across the pond have to be brought to North American in some manner.Cadillac used to fly the Allante convertible from Italy to America in custom Boeing 747 jumbo jets, for example, an outrageously expensive proposition that surely contributed to its sky-high price.Thats why the majority of the worlds automakers, even premium brands like BMW and Mercedes, ferry their cars to a destination by ship. Halifax Autoport plays regular host to these sea monsters, where a vast number of European machinery make their first turn of a wheel on North American soil. Autoport is one of the 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 in the vicinity of 200 metres from stem to stern, ships like the Asian Majesty and MSC Cristiana can deliver about 5,500 cars at a time to the shores of North America. The vessels are simultaneously cubist and grand, hauling their cargo like an automotive layer cake.With upwards of a dozen decks, a peek inside one of these roll-on/roll-off vessels will reveal cars packed cheek-to-jowl, parked inches apart and tied down securely. Its tighter than the Don Valley Parkway at rush hour during an autumn rain storm. Ships crew will often plan their seafaring routes around large storms to avoid damaging their cargo, keeping a window of time when they depart to allow for these potential delays without being late to their destination.Fun fact: most auto carriers, and other types of cargo ships, cap their width at about 32 metres. Why? Such girth allows them to traverse the Panama Canal.The ship shown here is the sixty-three thousand gross tonne Grande Halifax, built in 2018 at the Chinese shipyards of Jinling. It, too, has a length of 199.9 metres nearly two football fields and a width of 32.26 metres. Cruising speed is 19 knots or about 35km/h. The ship has a capacity of 6,700 CEU (Car Equivalent Units) or 4,000 linear metres of rolling freight and 2,500 CEUs. It is equipped with four hoistable decks which enable the transport of rolling cargo with a height of up to 5.2 metres. Despite all this capacity, the crew count is only 27.Once the vessels arrive at Autoport, the companys 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 Autoports massive marshalling yards. Parking a Land Rover in the BMW area would not be helpful.The yards occupy space on both sides of Nova Scotias busy Route 332, meaning drivers must navigate across a public road or two in order for the vehicle to reach its correct spot. Once parked, drivers are ferried back to the ship and perform the dance again. This happens hundreds of times during each delivery and, since vessels only make money while theyre at sea, it is critical to get the cars unloaded as quickly and safely as possible. The Ceres container facility in Nova Scotia. Halifax Autoport As a subsidiary of CN, it should be no surprise that trains are involved in shipping the vehicles from an Autoport marshalling yard to their final destination. Rail cars, most of which have three levels, stand ready at the foot of Autoports parking areas. Theyre easy to spot, with yellow roofs and silver metal walls. Interestingly, while the walls have slats in them to provide ventilation inside the rail car, those slats are designed in such a way 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 is not uncommon for residents of Nova Scotia to see tractor trailers with a load of fresh Audis, all of which are wrapped like a Christmas present in an effort to ward off in-transit damage. Save for a transparent window ahead and to the left of the drivers seat, its nigh impossible to tell the colour of that new Audi SUV until it reaches it final destination.Autoport knows what theyre doing but, as with most aspects of life, not everything works smoothly. In July of this year, 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 the brutal weather of 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. Transport Canada warned of
Origin: How Halifax Autoport processes almost 200,000 imported cars per year