Hantsport

Hantsport, NS · Transport Canada · Transport Canada · Avon River tidal estuary / Minas Basin (Bay of Fundy)

Hantsport is a Transport Canada public port on the west bank of the Avon River tidal estuary where it meets the Minas Basin in the Bay of Fundy, an area with some of the world's largest tides. Historically it was a gypsum-export terminal: gypsum quarried east of Windsor was railed to Hantsport and loaded onto ships via a high-speed loader (capable of about 10,000 tons/hour, one of the fastest in the world), a speed needed because the extreme Minas Basin tides give ships only a four- to five-hour window to enter and leave. The Fundy Gypsum Company (a USG subsidiary that operated in the area from 1924) idled the ship-loading facility in early 2011 and permanently closed it later that year, and commercial marine activity at the port has been dormant since. The port remains on Transport Canada's list of owned public ports despite the lack of active cargo operations.