Volvo from Saskatoon

RSB Logistic had a pair of trucks in town this week to pick up containers from Fairview Cove. Nothing terribly distinctive about the trucks except that one was fitted with aerodynamic wheel covers.

 Several large US carriers including Schneider and England have spec'd covers for thousands of their trucks, looking for promised fuel savings of 1% to 2% or more due to reduced turbulence in the recess of the wheel hub.
There are a variety of covers on the market, some are just stainless steel or chrome wheel covers. The favoured ones seem to be the transparent type that allow inspection of lug nets and hubs.
The RSB Volvo obviously came through a variety of winter conditions to reach Halifax, and the covers are still intact.

Another type that I saw in November had a transparent "port hole" in the middle to allow for inspection.

Terberg - just visiting

Always on the look out for strange and unusual trucks, I discovered a particularly rare vehicle (at least for Canada) yesterday. The Saudi Arabian RoRo ship Bahri Tabuk made a one day call in the Port of Halifax, and I spotted a strange shunting tractor sitting on the pier. It was a Terberg, manufactured by a Dutch company, with interests all over Europe and in Asia and South America. So far however they don't seem to have much visibility in North America.

Fitted with a gooseneck for RoRo trailers, the Terberg is a stylish and sophisticated piece of machinery.
Local longshoremen were in charge of loading and unloading the ship, and were using Logistec's Ottawa tractors which may be very different to operate.  They also look pretty plain by comparison.
The Terberg was back aboard the ship when it sailed last night.

For more on Terberg see:

http://www.terbergdts.co.uk/product-brochures/product-brochures.php

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Macks on the job

A major construction project in downtown Halifax is Mack country. Quality Concrete, the ready-mix concrete supplier appears to be a mostly Mack operation, whether it is for their transit mixers or pump trucks. (The odd Volvo or even International has been known to sneek in.)

Schwing pumper on Mack chassis

Putzmeister, on Mack chassis

Lots of twin-steer Mack transit mixers. It takes two to keep the Putzmeister pumping.

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GO Transit - now (not) extended to Halifax

The ever expanding Government of Ontario Transit system (GO Transit) has been adding buses at a fast rate to serve more distant suburban areas - but not quite as far as Halifax.  The latest model, introduced last year, with an order of 25 (numbers 8101-8125), are built by Alexander Dennis in the UK and imported through Halifax by ships of the Atlantic Container Line. The buses are then driven on to Toronto.

It appears that an additional 25 buses have now been ordered (based on numbers) with at least three arriving Christmas week in Halifax.

Go Transit bus numbers 8140 and 8146 wait to be driven away from the Fairview Cove container terminal. A third bus can be seen in the terminal, but in an unphotographable location and its number isn't visible.

The double deckers of this new Enviro 500 series are longer and lower than the pre-2013 models, allowing them to serve more suburban areas in the GTA, along the Highway 407 corridor. With a capacity of 81, they are really coaches, as opposed to transit buses. This new order is also painted in GO's revised darker forest green colour scheme introduced in 2013.

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Snow

A major blizzard hit Halifax January 3, so traveling around the streets was out of the question (for me). Even the city buses were parked. However plows were running and so were emergency vehicles.
By today the roads were miraculously clear, which made it much easier for ambulances and fire trucks.  Among them Engine 2, one of Halifax Regional Fire + Emergency Services' Spartan Metro Star/ Carl Thibault units delivered in 2011.

Earlier today I thought I heard a fire engine with tire chains, but by late morning when I saw this one it was making out just fine with conventional tires.

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