New Merc

 Mercedes trucks are always interesting to see as they are rare birds in North America. Daimler builds and sells trucks on this side of the Atlantic under the Freightliner, Western Star, (and Thomas Built buses) banners, but the company only sells cars and Sprinter vans with the Mercedes name in Canada and the USA.

Re-builders like big Mercedes trucks however so the chassis or even finished trucks are sometimes imported. I have previously posted photos of the Øverassen airport runway sweepers from Norway, with their unique power trailer arrangement. Several of these arrived in Halifax by ship in October.

These ones were bound for Calgary.

This week's arrival was a single cab unit, which appeared to be fitted for plowing or sweeping. It has extra headlights mounted on a frame just below the windshield. It was also an Øverassen rebuild, and had a Norwegian flag sticker on the side of the cab. It left town with a Volvo, but I was not quick enough to get details of the hauler.

If there was a trailer to go with this rig - I missed it.

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No End in Sight

 The invasion of European RVs continues unabated. There also continues to be a high proportion of off road types, which continue to baffle observers. Where do they find places to run these heavy duty rigs?

The Mercedes I saw at the Walmart June 5 was another that would looks a bit like a Dakar racer, prepared to blast across the Sahara.It wears a license plate from France and the "box" appears to be demountable..

 

Of course there are more genteel looking RVs too, less likely to draw attention to themselves, but worth a second look. I believe this Carthago from Switzerland is built on a Fiat chassis.

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Merc for an airport

 The Overaasen company from Norway specializes in building airport snow clearance vehicles. This includes sweepers and plows. Using Mercedes chassis they equip the rigs with separate rear mounted engines to power the devices. Usually they are built as truck / trailer combinations, but a recent arrival in Halifax was a straight truck. It was hauled away on a flatbed June 3, but I could not detect its destination.

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RVs keep on rolling

 European RVs are rolling in to Halifax in record numbers. Whether it is arriving en route to spend the winter in the warmer part of the continent or heading back to Europe after a summer of roving, it is hard to tell, sincd I rarely see any people nearby. Here is a sampling of this week's crop:

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The Heavies Keep Rolling

 Within less than an hour I clocked about a dozen trucks, most of them heavy, either coming out of PSA's Fairview Cove terminal or from the port's other Roll On Roll Off pier in the Richmond Terminal - and that was just the loads, there were numerous barebacks arrriving for loads too. Here's a sampling:

Yes Atlantic Tiltload does have a tri-axle Freightliner. Fleet number 49 picked up this Rottne F15E (15 tonne capacity) timber forwarder.

The company also has a similar tandem axle F'liner (sorry I missed the number) that picked up a flatrack container with some extra wide crates.
 

TDR Transportation (trucking division of Municipal Contracting) was moving some crane components for J.D.Irving Ltd. They had a Navistar International with mid-rise sleeper on the job:

J.D.Irving Ltd, for their part, had an interesting Western Star equipped with a beefy Manitex TM 200 20 ton crane to lift off the counterweights and other gear.

Back to the heavies:

Killingeck Transport of Selby, ON (northeast of Kingston) had this Kenworth T680 to haul a piece of Sandvik drilling equipment:

Also carrying Sandvik machinery, Earl Paddock from Stoney Creek, ON had their Kenworth number 546 with a LH410 model underground loader:

 We used to see Earl Paddock trucks frequently carrying military vehicles for export from General Dynamics in London, ON. But the Saudi Arabian shipping company moved its operations to Saint John so that I could not photograph them.

D.Dumais et Fils trucks (from way up in Dolbeau-Mistassini, QC) are regulars in Halifax hauling away forestry equipment. Their Kenwoth number 53 had a Komatsu 901 harvester this time:

Closer to home Valley Flatbed of Aylesford, NS had two rigs for similar loads. First was a flashy red Peterbilt with flat top sleeper.:

and second was a plain vanilla Peterbilt with a low rise sleeper:

Each had the Mercedes Arocs tractor portions of a pair of Øveraasen airport runway snow sweepers that arrived last week from Norway (via Sweden) on the ship Don Carlos.

Unlike some similar (but red painted) units that arrived a few weeks ago (see August 7, 2023 post) these yellow rigs were not marked with an airport code. Perhaps they are headed for the Canadian military base in Greenwood, NS - close to Valley Flatbed's home.

There is no end to the odd looking loads coming out of the port. Brookville Carriers Flatbed from Truro, NS had these rubber ship fenders. Although not especially heavy, they do require some good lashing (not sure why they need blue protective pads) . Commonly called Yokohama fenders, after the Yokohma Rubber Co which first built these low pressure "cushions", that is a trade name however and several other companies manufacture similar products under their own names. The Port of Halifax has many of these in service to protect ships from scraping and damage when tied up alongside. Cruise ships are particular about the condition of their hull paint, and they require several of these fenders for protection. 

The Navistar International LT features red fuel tanks.

 JDI Logistics had an unusual looking 20 foot Ritzy International Transportation tanktainer on a long chassis (for protection?)  marked for tetrafluroethane (HazMat code 3159) - a non flammable (but hazardous) refrigerant gas.

The blue whale on the tank appears to be trying to escape from something...

And finally CFL Heavy Haul of Milton, ON was not hauling anything heavy when it passed my position and its step deck trailer appeared better suited to extra high container hauling, but I liked the look of the Kenworth T680 with high rise sleeper even if it was a stark refrigerator white. (The driver was headed for the container terminal but had apparently taken a wrong turn somehwere.)

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Mercs - big and small

 Mercedes Benz builds cars and trucks of all sizes, from vans to hihway tractors. The latter are rare in North America, at least in part because the company owns Freightliner and Western Star and does not need another brand in a crowded market.

So when I see a big Mercedes truck I grab a photo - no matter how bad...

... like from the back through a chain link fence. This one must have arrived from Europe but how it came to be at the South End Container Terminal, and where it may be going is a mystery.

Smaller trucks such as vans have been common in recent years, notably the Sprinter type. Vans from the 1980s and 1990s were rare, so it was surprise to see one of that vintage with Canadian license plates.

The MB 100D was apparently produced from 1987 to 1996 and not exported to Canada. This unit, with Karmann RV body was likely purchased in Europe and brought to Canada as a used vehicle (thius avoiding heavy customs duties). It carries Quebec plates, so is still roadworthy.

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Swiss Merc

The ZG license plate indicates the canton of Zug (one of the 26 cantons, or counties of Switzerland) but this plain vanilla Mercedes carries no other identification. 

 I couldn't detect a maker's name for the RV body, but the porthole window appears to be unique among European RVs that I have seen recently.

The refrigerator white upper works are set off with a black underline, making it slightly more visible in the typical Halifax pea soup fog.

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More of them

 The European RVs keep rolling in (by ship). After a few days in bond they are cleared by Customs and head off into deepest darkest North America. Some recent examples:

Not a converted bread truck, this is a Niesmann + Bischoff luxury build. (The company is a subdidiary of Hymer.)

 

We don't see too many VW vans. This one may be a DIY. Is that a solar panel on the roof?

 Fiats are more common - this cab / chassis unit was the basis for a Franka RV body.

Even rarer are Jeeps from Europe - it would be interesting to learn the history of that one on the right with the folding roof top tent.

A giant Mercedes-based Eura Mobil would provide luxury transportation -  with staggering gas bills.

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Imports and Exports

 There seems to be no end to the RVs this year. I counted more than a dozen still to emerge from the Fairview Cove terminal, and with more due to arrive from Europe.

Among the ones I've seen recently were a small but rugged IVECO AWD from the Roth, Bavaria district of Germany:

 

I kept seeing the big Mercedes around town for a few days (see previous post) and finally figured out how they managed to get aboard.

The telescoping steps fold up under the door. There does not appear to be a railing.

Another small RV is a Dethleffs Globetrotter...

but I did not identify the cab/chassis manufacturer...

The map on the back includes Asia, Australia and the length of the western hemisphere, and certainly lives up to the Globetrotter label.

Not all vehicles moving through the port are imports. There is a large trade in used cars heading out to third world countries. There is the occasional truck too.

This Mack chassis concrete pumper arrived over the road from Sherbrooke, Quebec (that must have been gruelling trip). From the shape of the second steering axle mud guards I would say the chassis was prepared by Simard in Baie-St-Paul.

The pump is from Schwing, which makes many different models. Its North American operations are based in Minneapolis, MN. They aslo make fire booms and truck mounted conveyors.

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