What's that sound? Reason for blaring horns in Halifax harbour a mystery

It's not uncommon to hear ship horns around Halifax's seashores, but the blaring blasts that emanated from the harbour on Tuesday evening raised eyebrows across the city.

The horns were loud, came in roughly three-second-long blasts and lasted for about two minutes around 11 p.m. AT, according to some local residents.

It was enough to send social media into a frenzy wondering about the source of the racket — and even compelled some to capture the booming sound for themselves.

So what gives? Unfortunately, the answer is still not clear.

Lane Farguson, spokesperson for the Port of Halifax, said the horns came from one of the vessels in the harbour.

He confirmed the noise was not related to vessel movements or terminal operations, and added that it was an "isolated incident." He would not say why the horns were blasting.

But Halifax harbour watcher Mac Mackay has a few theories.

Mackay, who has written extensively on East Coast shipping news in his Shipfax Blog, surmised that the horns originated from a container ship that was docked in the harbour called the Zim Vancouver. 

He came to this conclusion because there were only two ships tied up in the harbour on Tuesday evening, and one was facing the water. The Zim Vancouver, however, was facing land, and so the horns would be heard more loudly in the direction the vessel was facing, he said in an interview Wednesday.

Mackay, a retired architect, said usually those types of horn blasts are meant to signal to another vessel to get out of the way. But the container ship was docked.

Another reason for a ship to sound its horn in this manner would be to indicate that it is in distress, but Mackay said there were no on-land signs of any distress, like emergency vehicles flocking to the scene.

He also said the number of blasts he heard from his home in south-end Halifax — perhaps 15 or more — was unusual. About four to five in a row is normal, said Mackay.

He said one possibility is that somebody was "having a bit of a party."

"There's a long tradition of sending signals like that at New Years, for instance, but they're a little late for that," Mackay said.

He said another possibility is that it was some form of political statement, noting many container ships these days have Ukrainian crew members. Ukraine has urged its citizens to leave Russia as the region braced for further confrontation.

But Mackay conceded he was "grasping at straws," and is as much in the dark about the reason for the signals as any other curious Haligonian.

According to the website VesselFinder.com, the Zim Vancouver is currently sailing under the flag of Israel and arrived in the Port of Halifax on Sunday.