Potential PAR/PAS Traffic Growth

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Sun Aug 16, 2020 10:07 pm And there you have it, Mr. Trainguy.

With Bay of Fundy tidal conditions affecting the "windows" of times avsilable for docking and sailing at The Port of Saint John, it cannot begin to match the Port of Halifax.

Once again, if someone thinks the Maritime Provinces should have two competitive ports, best talk to God about that.

As is, it would appear to me that JD Irving "owns" the Port, as well as most of the town. They own the railroads to the West into Maine, which serve their Timber interests. After Megantic, I'd be surprised if a car placarded HAZMAT 1267 ever operated on the CP-M again. I understand that Irving now imports crude from the Middle East for its refinery operations.

The mid-east Crude no longer comes to SJ. It comes from Western Canada mostly and some spot market purchases. Remembering the sweet and sour types of crudes.

Regarding the tidal issues -- its a non issue. This can be affirmed by the fact they just cycled in three ships in the 2000-4000TEU class without issue over the past week or so. SJ in recent years have taken the 5000 TEU MSC ships. They do plan on a dredge to get the channel depth to accommodate ships up to 12000TEU and they will have another set of harbor cranes. Be patient and enjoy the trains in the meantime. You may also review the port modernization project plans they are widely available online.

To tie this back to the thread, sale or not, Pan Am would be keen to try to get in on the port boom in Saint John, maybe we'll see some boxes head down to Ayer someday, as that sad little ramp has some capacity yet (believe it or not).

First, Mr. CN9634, I'm off to my favorite Chinese restaurant to order a plate of "Sweet and Sour Crude"

These two related topics ("For Sale" and here), have certainly enhanced my knowledge of Eastern Maine-Maritimes railroading. I further hold that railroads and maritime companies have so many interests aligned with one another, they're "peas in a pod" and that discussion of the latter's affairs here is quite relevant. I hope others will agree.

I guess the routing of Alberta crude to Saint John must be over the CN through Moncton, for as I noted earlier, I would think it be a long day coming until a train or crude rolls again over the CP-M and the Irving Short Lines.

While the TEU volume at SJ (is that abbreviation OK, Mr. Hadfield?) is only 10% of that at Halifax (source: Wiki), your immediate report certainly suggests that the Port wishes to play on the world stage, and whoever gets Pan Am, plus SOO/CP-M, choose to do what they must to have FRA Class 3 (and those Irving roads follow suit), the Province of NB could also have a world class Port.

Now I'm not sure when this photo is dated, but it looks like "Love Tubs" are the main attraction. I guess those two vessels shown are ocean-going, but if that is representative of the TEU volume at the Port, well, they got a way to go to play in the Big Leagues.

Finally, if I had a Bay of Fundy Tidal Chart, I could have been more informed of conditions prevalent up there. Again I note that when I was a Cadet in the Fairfield Navy, the CGS (NOAA) Chart went no further than Eastport.

Irving is receiving oil from Alberta via the Panama Canal

https://globalnews.ca/news/7176448/firs ... ey-irving/

Well Eddie Burkhardt, you "wrecked it for all time".

Does anyone know anything more about the new Pleasant River facility in Enfield? How big of a customer is that going to be in terms of weekly loads? It's been discussed quite a bit on here as a potential saving grace for the 'keag line.

This is conjecture only - I have no clue or inside information on how many loads they may offer (or receive as well?) - but the facility currently appears to be smaller than Dover Foxcroft and similar to Jackman in size. Jackman from what I have witnessed would get 4 or 5 loads of logs in and similar out a few times a week.

I posed the same question over on the “Up North D-1” thread with no response so am assuming that nobody really knows. Unless they’re building some kind of mega-mill complex like you see out West, judging from other regional lumber shippers my guess is that the max would be 3-5 cars per day, but again just a guess.

Looks like you beat me to the punch, though seems like we agree on the upside. Regardless, I don’t see them even coming close to the volumes you see from any of the remaining paper mills so not sure it’s going to make or break the line’s future, though every little bit helps.

3-5 cars per day is a pretty surprising development almost anywhere up there ...

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Would they be served by a local from NMJ or Old Town? At least until whatever time that MAWA/WAMA come back?

I saw somewhere in the "Up North" discussion that Old Town is expected to grow to upwards of 50 cars a week (inbound caustic and outbound pulp) within the next few years. That in itself is fairly amazing growth for an industry that seemed to have no future at all in 2014/2015.

Amazon looking to open distribution center in Fitchburg.

https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/2 ... -facility/

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5682091 ... a=!3m1!1e3

atholrail-
Thanks -- this makes too much sense. Worcester is reaching capacity for UPS. The ghost of the old siding is visible, and although it is better for boxcar work than IM, reconfiguration can happen easily enough. Mebbe in/out on Hoosac routing or mebbe via Worcester for DS. Mebbe even the UPS yard on Nashua Street gets moved west.
Intervale area residents might not be happy about 24/7 TT traffic, but employment opportunities might ease things.

If this distribution center ends up increasing rail service it definitely won't be from a on premises siding as amazon does not get bulk material. I am not even sure what they use for intermodal nationwide, someone else might know more.

I’m not aware of an Amazon facility anywhere with direct rail access. They are often by big airports where their cargo planes land and I see their trucks up and down interstate 95. Maybe there are some. Who knows. They don’t seem like guys who would put up with RR delivery times and unpredictability

Over the past year, I've seen various pictures of intermodal trains (on Railpictures . net for example) with either Amazon Prime containers, or Amazon TOFC's.

I just stumbled across this article regarding Amazon-branded intermodal containers and their use of rail transportation: https://www.joc.com/rail-intermodal/int ... 90909.html

Not sure how this ties in with the proposed distribution center in Fitchburg, unless it could ultimately mean Amazon containers (and TOFC?) on 22K into Ayer or on CSX into Worcester? (for draying to the distribution center)