NOVA.SCOTIA (CBC) - The Port of Halifax is losing 10 per cent of the container traffic at its Fairview Cove terminal with the pullout of a major customer.

Caterpillar Inc. has opted to route its heavy equipment through a port in Virginia instead.

Fairview Cove terminal vice-president Cal Whidden said there's no question it's a big blow to Halifax.

"Every container that crosses our dock creates more than two man-hours of work," he said Tuesday. "So when you lose somewhere around 18,000 containers, that is very significant to our workforce, our revenues and our customer base."

For the past six years, Halifax had been the gateway to move Caterpillar parts and machinery to customers in the American Midwest. The company is now returning to Norfolk, Va., the port it used before Halifax.

Andy Abbott, president of Atlantic Container Line shipping, which moved the containers into Halifax, said Caterpillar could not afford delays with CN Rail.

"Their shipments came in and were sitting at the terminal for over a week with no end in sight. Meanwhile, more snowstorms were hitting and derailments and all sorts of problems that CN was having," Abbott said.

CN blames this loss on winter storms, which also led to disruptions in Chicago...