A Detroit economics professor is looking to get cordial with Halifax to create a new shipping route to the US Midwest via rail---hoping to transform his city’s crumbling infrastructure into a bustling inland port bringing in trade from Asia.
Armed with a vintage website and big dreams, Michael Belzer, the CEO of the non-profit Great Lakes Global Freight Gateway, claims he could commodore goods to the Midwest cheaper and faster than other routes, envisioning shipments of car parts, chemicals and cherries.
His scheme jives with Halifax Port Authority CEO Karen Oldfield’s fixation on coaxing shippers from China, India and Vietnam to use Halifax as a port of call (making some wonder if she’s ever laid her peepers on a map).
Belzer’s pitch hinges on his claim that a Halifax-Detroit link could reduce cost between $250 and $930 per container, but he hasn’t drawn up the business plan to prove that yet.
He predicts the project would create $11 billion in economic activity and over 200,000 jobs.
The group estimates revamping Detroit would cost $5 billion---$5 billion that he likely won’t find city or state coffers, as both face enormous cuts to services to offset the beleaguered states’ losses. Belzer expects the private sector will come up with the cash. Right now he’s relying on donations.
But they’re not in the building stage yet. First he’s setting out to convince politicians, manufacturers and other captains of industry that his route is peachy---saying he would pay to piggy-back on trade missions to sing Detroit’s praises. Soon he’s going to Michigan state legislators to ask for approval and some promotional funding.
The Lakes Gateway idea hopes to lure in new “Ultra Post-Panamax” ships to Halifax’s natural deep water port, one of two East Coast ports, along with Hampton Roads, Virginia, that can currently accommodate next generation of Hindenburgian liners. But soon we’ll lose that competitive edge as other ports in New Jersey, Florida, and Georgia begin dredging their harbours to get ready for the new ships, due to sail in 2014.
The Halifax-Detroit gateway plan---besides being a far-fetched destination for Asian trade---is well behind the heavyweights who’ve already established quick links to the Midwest.
Hundreds of millions were invested in upgrading rail lines from Baltimore and Virgina to Ohio three years ago for a plan called the National Gateway. On the West Coast, the port of Los Angeles is spending $10 billion to accommodate even more goods from Asia headed to Chicago.
Adding to the implausibility, cargo from just one mega ship requires 40 trains. CN currently runs one train a day out of Halifax. And with trains that shuffle along at a sluggishly uncompetitive 23 miles per hour, it takes just under four days to get to Motown according to HPA numbers. To achieve Belzer’s “faster and cheaper” claim, our railways would need millions in investments---a note left out of his press release.
“It doesn’t need a study. It doesn’t need a massive plan. It doesn’t need much in way of legislative or government approval. The elements need to be linked and coordinated and then managed smoothly. It’s really ready to implement and execute,” Belzer says in his press release.
The HPA is currently spending $108 million on refitting the port---which includes making more room for Post-Panamax ships and new cranes designed for the behemoth ships.
Though, the port is so far silent on the Lakes Gateway idea, “it’s too early to go into an of the details at this point”, explains Lizzie Moore a spokesperson for the HPA.
