Railroad Forums 

  • Pan Am / DP World Intermodal Announcement

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1443822  by rb
 
What shipping lines call at Saint John besides MSC? Conley Terminal has regular service from COSCO, MSC, and at least one other.

The key question is: what would be coming to Mass via SJ that wouldn't already have a direct ride to Conley?
 #1443826  by CPF363
 
Ten or so yeas ago, DP World was not permitted to own or operate ports in the United States by Congress over fears of port security with a foreign-owned company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). So, coming to Saint John, N.B., having the NBSR handle customs and running containers on Pan Am is the next best thing to a State side port.
 #1443843  by Cosakita18
 
rb wrote:What shipping lines call at Saint John besides MSC? Conley Terminal has regular service from COSCO, MSC, and at least one other.

The key question is: what would be coming to Mass via SJ that wouldn't already have a direct ride to Conley?
CMA-CGM just started weekly calls to St. John coming up from Kingston, Jamaica
 #1443942  by B&M 1227
 
BostonUrbEx wrote:Between Poland Spring and now this Saint John news, has there ever been such great interest in short- and medium-distance intermodal using rail? Not just New England, but nationally. I used to think of it as just long-haul business, but that seems to be changing right here in New England.
I believe CP had a Montreal-Toronto service that didn't exactly prosper. Doesn't FEC also do shorthaul stuff? Regardless, it is cool that Guilford's managed to make this work. I believe they still retain intermodal rights to Cedar Hill in New Haven, though that probably requires the right customer...
 #1443983  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
B&M 1227 wrote:
BostonUrbEx wrote:Between Poland Spring and now this Saint John news, has there ever been such great interest in short- and medium-distance intermodal using rail? Not just New England, but nationally. I used to think of it as just long-haul business, but that seems to be changing right here in New England.
I believe CP had a Montreal-Toronto service that didn't exactly prosper. Doesn't FEC also do shorthaul stuff? Regardless, it is cool that Guilford's managed to make this work. I believe they still retain intermodal rights to Cedar Hill in New Haven, though that probably requires the right customer...
Yeah...and PAS did indeed make a handful of runs there with EDPL in the last few years, though none of that really caught on as semi-regular. The list of do's-and-don'ts with what they can do with their rights to CH is extremely restrictive, so finding a matchup they're actually allowed to handle is very difficult.
 #1444092  by johnpbarlow
 
FWIW and a bit OT: CMA CGM operates the largest container ship to transit the Panama Canal from Asia calling on east coast ports such as New York, Charleston, and Norfolk, the 14,414 TEU Theodore Roosevelt:
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/i ... act--52808

By comparison, the CMA CGM vessels calling on Saint John from their Kingston, Jamaica hub, have less than one-tenth the capacity of the Theodore Roosevelt at approximately 1,300 TEU:
https://www.joc.com/port-news/internati ... 70706.html
 #1444230  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
Yes, but CSX holds the lion's share of ex-Conrail rights to Cedar Hill and PAS only has a couple crumbs worth of permissions dating back to when B&M bought its way into Connecticut in 1982. CSX barely uses those rights, because West Springfield, Worcester, and Bronx frame CT too conveniently for them to care...but they hold nearly all rights cards so nobody else is allowed to have a substantial presence there. Should EHH makes a cost-cutting move to get CSX out of Connecticut altogether and sell Cedar Hill rights and/or property to someone, you can be certain that it'll be thoroughly booby-trapped to keep that traffic as captive as possible to CSX and will give zero inch at allowing another Class I in NS any conceivable openings to worm their way in first- or second-hand.
 #1444499  by riffian
 
By comparison, the CMA CGM vessels calling on Saint John from their Kingston, Jamaica hub, have less than one-tenth the capacity of the Theodore Roosevelt at approximately 1,300 TEU:
https://www.joc.com/port-news/internati ... 70706.html[/quote]

CMA CGM has just ordered 9 Ultra Large Container ships with an amazing capacity of 22,000 TEUs. Hopefully they can make this Saint John niche service work but its got an uphill struggle against the major ports which can accommodate these large ships.