A truck appointment system introduced this month at the Port of Halifax, N.S., is aimed at reducing waiting times and improving overall turnaround times.

Container terminal operator PSA Halifax, owned and operated by PSA International, recently announced a temporary adjustment to the free time policy to support the transition to the appointment system, and Hakka – a new online payment platform.

Effective April 1, the free time – a grace period for loading or unloading cargo without extra fees – for import loaded local Halifax cargo will be increased from five calendar days to seven calendar days from the day of container discharge to when transactions are completed through Hakka.

The GPN (Global Portnet) truck appointment system allows trucking companies to book gate appointments to deliver or collect their containers, Jonathan Chia, deputy managing director, head of commercial and corporate development at PSA Halifax told TruckNews.com.

More than 4,000 truck appointments have been made since the launch of the system on March 1, he added.

Hakka is an online payment system to facilitate the payment of terminal services directly to PSA Halifax. Although the platform is currently set up to collect payments for import container storage charges, the longer-term goal is to extend the payment solution to cover other terminal services, Chia said.  

PSA Halifax has not determined the duration of temporary adjustment to the free time policy and will reassess on an ongoing basis, he added.

On average, between 450 to 550 trucks operate daily across the port’s two terminals.