Intermodal to Saint John

A box is a container and a lot of these are 40s. Not sure where you got that 78,000 figure, that is what they MOVED last year, capacity is 150K TEUs per annum, being expanded to 325K TEUs with line of sight from CP to 800K TEUs in the coming years.

Update on my info too— this is NOT the steady business but rather port diversions from Montreal. Strike was never settled, just a truce til March so the can was kicked. Makes sense this is a St Lawrence seaway ship they’d prefer keep on the Montreal trades. So this is diversion Part 2 and the regular biz starts at some point Spring or later.

https://www.craneandhoistcanada.com/por ... rway-1348/

“The massive project will expand the port’s annual container yard handling capacity from 125,000 TEU to 330,000 TEU. The project will also allow the port’s rail handling capacity to grow exponentially from 75,000 TEU to 330,000 TEU.”

During the first diversions in August/Sept for a time the run rate was certainly exceeding that target per annum, remembering they were moving HL diversions but also regular CMA traffic. That metric may simply be based on surface equipment, available resources from the longshoremen and number of switches using 'normal' averages... really if you had enough packers loading/unloading train sets and a switch every 6-9 hours you could certainly make that go much faster without doing much else to change the arrangement.

Something else to notice-- Looking at the aerial shots the port took during the peak of the diversions, you'll notice none of the container stacks exceed 4 high... yet other ports go much higher. That's a surface equipment capability issue, you need straddle carriers and larger cranes to get things stacked higher but also managed container yard flows in a more fluid way.

Some shots:

A good chunk of the CMA and MSC volumes of course are local market, but again the addition of the Hapag volumes will surely push that envelope of rail capacity within the current arrangement. The timing of the expansion is good however, and they'll be looking to resolve some of these constraints not just in berth but within the intermodal piece.

Understood re: International container handling. On a related note, here's a link to a terrific capture of eastbound train 250 taken by John Kittredge on 2/12/21 with single well of double-stacked CP domestic cube containers head out. So I'm guessing CP expects to develop some domestic container business to/from Saint John.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/79289095@N04/50956771053/

There were 8 domestic boxes on NBSR 907 yesterday (4 stacks), that were 2 EMP boxes, 2 Bison/Yanke (same company) and 4 CP. I've been told Kraft Foods signed up for 1000 box contract and others are starting to come along. Heard somewhere to 100 domestic containers per week by the end of 2021. Still no sightings of Maritime Ontario, Fastfrate, TFI or Armour containers but I'm sure we'll see some eventually.

Here are CP's IM November 2020 schedules eastbound to and westbound from Saint John:

https://www.cpr.ca/en/customer-resource ... ov2020.pdf

https://www.cpr.ca/en/customer-resource ... ov2020.pdf

Interestingly it takes a couple days longer for containers to go west v. going east. For example, it takes about 4.5 days to go from Schiller Park Chicago to Saint John but 6.5 days to go west to Chicago. Must be strong westerly winds!

I noticed the difference in transit times, as well. Must be those prevailing westerlies!

The schedule has been optimized eastbound for 142-250-908 line up for Toronto to SJ traffic, the primary target being Canadian Tire. They moved one box so far... but I’m told this is supposed to be the anchor client on the domestic side for fulfillment to the stores/Atlantic RDCs from the Toronto DC.

According to marinetraffic tracking online, Glasgow express is entering the bay of fundy now on approach to the port at SJ

And now docking
Will be interesting to see how long it takes to work the ship

Still moored.

The plan for her is to drop 7500' of inbound intermodal to Montreal via CP then she is setting sail herself for Montreal proper to collect all the boxes already at the port there. Total time in and out of SJ is approx 24 hours. So this is a hybrid move, and I'm told mostly a test of operations, for this ahead of any potential industrial action with the PoM truce ending last March.

Of course CP is hoping that this along with the Halifax/NYC planned traffic moves to SJ for the long term, so in their eyes an opportunity for more HLAG volume. If they land more HLAG volumes and Maersk, place is gonna get busy this year...!

Here’s hoping, by me at least, that cp is ready with all the manpower, horsepower and empty wells to quickly roll this traffic off the dock to impress hapag. They’ve had notice that the ship was coming and a little practice from the earlier diversions where they got slightly overwhelmed. I would love to see the moosehead full of trains

I’m told a schedule/symbol change is coming soon to the Moosehead trains, sounds like extension of one of the existing intermodal/manifest trains from Chicago

Rockingham Racer wrote: ↑Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:52 am Still moored.

And back out in the bay of fundy headed to Montreal. In SJ less than 36 hours