The April Railpace mag reports that this large logistics warehouse is set to close in August. further states that it transloads "OSB and paper from a mill on Maine Northern, which will be trucked in from now on". I presume the OSB mill is Georgia Pacific(?) at New Limerick on the Houlton branch and the lumber comes from one of the mills on the Ashland branch. I was there only once during BAR days, but this was a large rail customer. It was also the only place In the US where you could still see boxcars with friction bearing trucks, some still with State of Maine lettering, a product of the non interchange nature (intraline) of the traffic handled. If this report is valid, how badly will this hurt both Maine Northern and CMQ? Is this still the large consignee it once was? Finally which mills are affected by this move and are any of them in danger? Both mills on the Ashland side have been shut down and reopened in recent years. Thanks for any local input.....
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LMS, No. Maine Junc.
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I believe the mill is owned by Huber now. The product has been as of lately, shipped in 50' box cars to LMS where it was transloaded for local distribution. The warehouse was sold to a window manufacturer, which doesn't ship by rail so it is valid. It will do a little bit of harm to CMQ's bottom line, but shouldn't have a effect on mills. The only real change is that the product wont be sitting in the warehouse for a period of time, but will be trucked down from the mills as needed. I believe they take 6-10 cars a week but I am not 100% sure of that statistic.
Thanks - I thought this was a bigger customer that it apparently is of late, and that it's closure might be a serious blow to both railroad and mill.
Sadly the business started to die under MMA, due to less of a need for the product in the area. I believe LMS only employs 2-3 workers right now, but the new window plant should employ 100+, and hopefully they will improve the road into the yard.
LMS isn't closing, it actually just got bought by Mathews Brothers in Belfast and they have given LMS (Ed Burkhardt) a 2 year lease to keep its current business (Huber, St. Croix, and Twin Rivers) and find another warehouse to move. Since there currently isn't another warehouse on CMQ, it could be a 1000+ carload blow (Huber and Twin Rivers) to the railroad.
But, with the new haulage with ST, they could move to another warehouse on ST and CMQ would still get the moves.....
But, with the new haulage with ST, they could move to another warehouse on ST and CMQ would still get the moves.....
So what is LMS going to be if the new owners are just leasing the current operation to Burkhardt until it has a chance to relocate? Seems odd.
Also surprising that CMQ didn't just buy LMS (or that Burkhardt wasn't forced to sell).
Also surprising that CMQ didn't just buy LMS (or that Burkhardt wasn't forced to sell).
LMS isn't closing, it actually just got bought by Mathews Brothers in Belfast and they have given LMS (Ed Burkhardt) a 2 year lease to keep its current business (Huber, St. Croix, and Twin Rivers) and find another warehouse to move. Since there currently isn't another warehouse on CMQ, it could be a 1000+ carload blow (Huber and Twin Rivers) to the railroad.This is incorrect, LMS is in fact closing, and there is no such lease. My source is linked to both CMQ, Huber, and Twin Rivers. He has said that they are not looking at going to a diffrent warehouse, but rather a direct shipping route by truck.
But, with the new haulage with ST, they could move to another warehouse on ST and CMQ would still get the moves.....
Is there some type of haulage agreement in the wind that may offset this loss ?