newpylong wrote:There is a wild rumor going around Billerica that with the Casco dredging CN is interested is redeveloping the old BM Baked Bean plant and the adjacent marina into a new container port. They would buy back and run the GT the whole way. I'm sure CSX would love that to happen right in their new back yard. It may prod them to do something on the Turners branch.
Sounds like someone mixed up the sugar for another white substance in the mornings coffee.
What is the channel even being dredged to?
That location hardly has enough room to fit two ship berths, let alone the amount of space needed for a terminal and a yard.
Plus you are talking about trying to put a commercial development near a large number of residential neighborhood. Which if Southern Maine wasn't already where business plans go to die, trying to stick a container port in a suburb of Portland would be as smart as shooting yourself in the crotch.
Unless you have an art gallery, coffee shop, or a store which sells nick-nacs to tourists or college students Southern Maine is a very hostile place. It will turn into a knockdown drag out court battle in addition to the public fallout. The last time a major terminal was proposed, the state ended up in a 20 year legal fight with about every advocacy group on the east coast until they cut their losses. Trying to stick a commercial port in the backyard of the donors to many of those groups, definitely wouldn't fly.
FWIW the rumor of SLR being bought out has been circulating for decades. I think you can even find traces of that if you want to dig through the achieves on this site. SLR is a dying asset, if CN truly wanted them back they probably would have done it before the traffic dried up. Pretty much the two things floating the railroad are the propane at Lewiston Jct and the Canadian side of the railroad which still has a large amount of manufacturing. Road jobs are down to just two days a week (on the US side) and I don't think the local works more than 3 days a week these days. I imagine CN would want some sort of carload traffic to float the place until the port were built as well as the needed infrastructure improvements were made. Frankly 40-60 cars twice a week I don't think would be enough to satisfy their needs.
At the same time, CN recently purchased an interest in CBNS and there have been a few ports proposed around Mulgrave/Port Hawkesbury/Point Tupper. CN also has a number of locations on the former NBEC property (Dalhousie and Miramichi) which were once home to papermills which have deep water access and are open to redevelopment with ample room for a port.