Fire goes out in Halifax’s heart of glass
No cruise ships, few tourists and no end in sight. That was enough to convince determined owners at NovaScotian Crystal to close shop next month. They gave notice Thursday. I used to walk by in summer and see a guy who looked like my uncle swing a steel pipe and a ball of hot glass the colour of the sun out of the kiln to be bent and shaped into something the light would just dance off. You (and I) have six weeks to get a memento.
Asante Logistics making moves in hard times
Ernest Korankye’s a PhD plant physiologist by training but is earning accolades in business. He started by shipping used cars to Africa, expanded into freight forwarding, got an export award, bought the old Crossley Carpet property for warehousing and quadrupled profits in his last full year. Now he’s looking to rent warehouse and manufacturing space to other exporters and has deals in the works.
Airport 2021: Final departures?
If there were one big screen of Atlantic Canadian arrivals and departures it would be mostly red. Air Canada said this week it is cutting routes in Newfoundland and Labrador, ending service to Fredericton and the last flight in or out of Sydney left Monday. The immediate casualties are airport jobs. More will follow.
Check, please
Halifax-based SimplyCast made its contact tracing app available to businesses for free last fall on spec. Now it’s signed a deal with the Restaurants Association of Nova Scotia to roll out the app in restaurants. Eateries will be counting on quick and easy check-ins and customers will feel safer knowing they’ll be contacted directly if anyone else in the establishment comes down with COVID-19.
Equinor heads east: more jobs, more drilling
Norway’s government-owned oil company’s shifting away from tar sands and toward the offshore. That’s good news for Newfoundland, which found out this week jobs will be moving from Calgary to St. John’s. Separately, Equinor was one of three companies to have offshore exploration programs approved.
Bonavista: Newfoundland’s tax-free town
Most cities and towns are doing what they can to help businesses threatened by the economic fallout of COVID-19.
Bonavista gave companies hit by the pandemic a year off paying taxes. Meanwhile, Dave Snow is facing a seven-fold tax increase for his campground in Pouch Cove. Or is that Ouch Cove.
Empty offices and stacked up warehouses
That’s a six-word summary of CBRE’s latest stats on commercial real estate in Halifax. The Bluenose capitol’s got nearly 16 per cent of its office space sitting empty and unpaid. Meanwhile warehouse space is going at a premium.
Green blockchain train picks up steam
Nova Scotia's Meridian DLT says they believe blockchain should be simple. They should follow that with it doesn`t have to be dirty but they're much too polite. The Lower Sackville start-up created a blockchain based digital sharing and storage service that runs entirely on renewable energy and just picked up $364,000 from ACOA to grow it. They should do okay given Blockchain's dirty little not-so-secret—it sucks power and a lot of that power comes from coal.
PERSPECTIVES
DEVENNEY: Atlantic Canada's scary case of groupthink
Michael DeVenney talks to business people for a living and what he’s hearing has him worried. Find out why everyone being on the same page may spell trouble for your business. And if you’d like to hear more tips, trends and takeaways that can help your business, check out our Tool Kit 2021 package.
ROSENBERG: Bitcoin digital fools gold? Yes. No and yes.
All the talk about Bitcoin being the “new gold” has Financial Post columnist David Rosenberg cranky. It’s no haven from the market crazies, he says. More like a more potent strain.
That’s the wrap. See you in a week. If you got this far, here’s a little reward—a tale about songs that tell tales of the sea. Feel free to sing, just not near me.
