Intermodal to Maine

KSmitty wrote:They were transloading at the warehouse on the Hinkley Branch by exit 133 off 95 in Fairfield. Its been a year and a half since I was regulalry by there and dont know if that still goes on.

They (UPM/Madison Paper) maintain a facility in Mechanic Falls, or their website says they do anyway. I can't see Mechanic Falls, or the western foothills region, as a huge user of coated paper so I imagine the SLR handles some of their traffic as well.

And then find a Maine paper mill that doesnt regulalry use Ayer or Worcester. Pretty much how Lincoln Paper and Tissue does business. safe bet UPM is doing so as well. Can't imagine shipping large quantities of paper far by truck.

NEPW is Mechanic Falls. They also have quietly put together quite a portfolio of warehouses through M&A... most are rail served.

UPM uses intermodal pretty heavily (2 week shut down looming)

Every mill is trucking both intermodal and OTR.

Keep an eye open for Infinity Logistics Transportation 53' container reefers coming into the area soon. Should use both NS and CSX rail options. Wouldn't be surprised to see these coming up into Maine.

CN9634 wrote:I'm not sure if they are transloading at Waterville or not but I'm not sure where exactly they would do that.

They have before, during the summer. They do it right at the crossing by the IM tracks.

CN9634 wrote:NEPW is Mechanic Falls. They also have quietly put together quite a portfolio of warehouses through M&A... most are rail served.

Every mill is trucking both intermodal and OTR.

Didnt realize Mechanic Falls was third party logistics. Just knew it was listed on UPM/NA's site.

How far are they shipping domestic product OTR? I can't imagine OTR shipping large quantities of paper farther than intermodal terminals in eastern New York. Seems quite inefficient when better options exist in Mass. I realize intermodal options for Canadian traffic is limited east of Montreal.

KSmitty wrote:

CN9634 wrote:NEPW is Mechanic Falls. They also have quietly put together quite a portfolio of warehouses through M&A... most are rail served.

Every mill is trucking both intermodal and OTR.

Didnt realize Mechanic Falls was third party logistics. Just knew it was listed on UPM/NA's site.

How far are they shipping domestic product OTR? I can't imagine OTR shipping large quantities of paper farther than intermodal terminals in eastern New York. Seems quite inefficient when better options exist in Mass. I realize intermodal options for Canadian traffic is limited east of Montreal.

Well, it depends on a lot of stuff. The emergence of intermodal has created a hybrid option for those who aren't directly served by rail, don't have a large rail capacity, or in some extreme cases don't have great rail service (cough cough). Of course, the world of trucking is changing and evolving everyday (especially on the driver side) where OTR is slowing and in some cases dying out. OTR may still be useful in places where they don't have great access to rail, or in some cases it is cost and/or service competitive with the other options. Also, depending on your production cap as a manufacturer, depends on what you are going to burn out for capacity. So if you're maxed out the cap for rail and intermodal, you will have to use OTR to keep your customers happy -- even if it may be at your own increased cost.

A lot of 3PLs are buying up older stock 53' vans to use as shuttles from production facilities to warehouses (ala this UPM using this warehouse in Fairfield). A 3PL essentially is someone contracted to be the logistics department for a company (hence third party logistics). So on their website it doesn't really matter what they say if you're a customer. NEPW uses a fleet of tractors and some vans to hub and spoke freight from places to their warehouses to be cross docked. That can be a cost competitive option to intermodal if your nearest ramp is further away.

Thanks for the post, always learn something useful from you and Newpy.

Likewise, very helpful. Interesting to see continue shifts on intermodal in Maine. Hopefully PAR continues their trackwork on the Back Road in the spring.

I can tell you there is a reason why CSX built their own terminal in Montreal... they expect to move serious freight out... Northern NY, and Northern VT.

Your supposition doesn't consider the complications of multiple border crossings (dray and rail) for US domestic moves. Anything on the west side of the Adirondacks would move over Syracuse, anything on the east side or in northern VT would either go Syracuse, Springfield or be ceded to NS.

Cowford wrote:

I can tell you there is a reason why CSX built their own terminal in Montreal... they expect to move serious freight out... Northern NY, and Northern VT.

Your supposition doesn't consider the complications of multiple border crossings (dray and rail) for US domestic moves. Anything on the west side of the Adirondacks would move over Syracuse, anything on the east side or in northern VT would either go Syracuse, Springfield or be ceded to NS.

Less complicated than yesteryear and getting easier by the day.... it's no longer an issue and when we look at the rail map for our ops, the border is not a factor... well unless I get a BOL in either Spanish or French...

As long as the load is to be delivered in the US,from a US shipper,the load is "In Bond" while in Canada,Customs seal put on by
Canadian Customs and form stamped,form stamped again by US Customs after inpection to cancel Bond
Standard SOP for Auto parts headed to Detroit from the New England states

Correct, and you also have the issue of a Canadian driver coming into the US on the delivery dray, and a Canadian-registered chassis (no?), both of which require a reload or empty return back to Canada. And... I'm a little rusty on customs rules... doesn't the in-bond process require additional effort from the shipper/BCO? Say the destination is Odgensburg: Syracuse is 125 miles away; Valleyfield is 85 miles. Via Syracuse, you also eliminate 200+ miles of rail line-haul. I can't fathom such a US domestic move going via Valleyfield.

As I understood the transit bond is held by the trucking company involved,the driver acts as the company's agent
in creating and clearing the bond,and understanding the rules while in transit outside of US border.
In the case of intermodal rail,that should be under the RR's bond while transiting Canada.

The shippper is only involved on a load delivers in Canada if using a freight fowarder at the border other than the trucking Company's
" in house"forewarder for the canadian PARS paperwork faxed ahead of the load.
All canadian provinces are party to IRP and IFTA agreements used in the US.

Under NAFTA rules drivers from Canada can deliver,then transit to pick up the load that sends
the driver back to Canada. It's the same for US drivers in Canada.

Any news on a future Poland Spring move?

fogg1703 wrote:Any news on a future Poland Spring move?

Unsurprisingly, there have been no Poland Springs trains since the last one reported here. Hopefully there will be many more to come for years, but if I was a betting man.....

dnelson wrote:

fogg1703 wrote:Any news on a future Poland Spring move?

Unsurprisingly, there have been no Poland Springs trains since the last one reported here. Hopefully there will be many more to come for years, but if I was a betting man.....

...Poland Springs trains or trailers loaded with Poland Spring product moving by rail?

wintower wrote:

dnelson wrote:

fogg1703 wrote:Any news on a future Poland Spring move?

Unsurprisingly, there have been no Poland Springs trains since the last one reported here. Hopefully there will be many more to come for years, but if I was a betting man.....

...Poland Springs trains or trailers loaded with Poland Spring product moving by rail?

If I was a betting man.... I'd put money on eventually seeing some water trains, but with the regular trains either lasting a short time before being discontinued immediately, or train frequency and size gradually declining over time before eventually being discontinued... with some luck maybe some intermodal loads could be set off at Danville to be part of typical a pick ups of westbound cars from SLR.

Now keep in mind, I truly hope that does not happen, and that instead regular intermodal jobs out of Danville become the norm. While my gut prediction is that they won't, I have no qualifications that make me a credible source for the information I hear through railroad workers and customers, and I'm not a rookie intermodal movements manager with access to top secret data on the subject, either. I do appreciate whatever bits of such information we can gain access to.

What I do know is that failure was the eventual outcome of effectively every 'exciting new game-changer unit train' attempted on Maine rails since before I was born, many of which had promises of longterm success from a range of high ranking company officials when the trains were in their beginning stages. Say what you want about ST/GRS/PAR running the railroad better now than the bad old days that shaped the company's legacy....... The day I'll stop using reoccurring historic facts as a basis for predictions is the day the railroad invests its own money into bringing the entire mainline from CPF185 to Northern Maine Jct. up to a continuously maintained 25MPH, by sending MOW crews out to make repairs right away when needed, replacing the familiar cycle of letting the speed restrictions stack get fatter every day, with the occasional upgrades often being very short-lived.