Short-haul ships with a long view

The Boston-Halifax shuttle is considered a pilot for US government efforts to a create feeder system of small cargo ships, hopping from one port to another along what would essentially become marine highways off the nation’s coasts. When huge container ships arrive from Asia or Europe, the cargo would be off-loaded onto these smaller vessels instead of trucks or trains.

The goals: reducing reliance on heavy trucks on overburdened roadways; cutting energy consumption and transportation costs; and improving security by having more US-flagged ships hauling products in and out of US ports.

“It’s something that’s already being done in Europe,’’ said Percy Pyne IV, chairman of American Feeder Lines. “This is a tremendous opportunity. It’s something I’ve wanted to see happen for a long time.’’

If all goes as planned, the cargo ship AFL New England will steam from Halifax on Friday, loaded with imported goods. It will stop at Portland before arriving at Massport’s Conley Terminal next Tuesday to deliver containers full of steel for an Everett recycling yard owned by Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., one of the nation’s largest recyclers of scrap metal.

The AFL New England, a 16-year-old German-made diesel ship, is small compared with other cargo ships, capable of holding only 400 shipping containers. Larger cargo ships can hold as many as 14,400 containers, Pyne said.

But the smaller ship works economically because it is designed as a shorter-haul carrier to compete with fleets of trucks and rail cars, not massive container ships. By using less fuel than land-based competitors, a regional feeder ship can cut transportation costs by up to 60 percent, Pyne said.

The launch of the New England-Halifax shuttle comes as Massport’s Conley Terminal shows signs of rebounding from the recent recession. Container cargo in and out of Boston plunged to 1.3 million tons last year, down from the pre-recession peak of about 1.7 million tons in 2007, according to Massport.