By Justin Franz
SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Six months after it reacquired part of its eastern main line following a quarter-century of short line control, Canadian Pacific announced Wednesday that it would be increasing intermodal service to the Port of Saint John, N.B.
CP and the German-based shipper Hapag-Lloyd announced that they were extending their pre-existing transportation agreement for another five years and that the two companies would also begin regularly using the Port of Saint John. That means regular intermodal trains will again be crossing the state of Maine on the former Central Maine & Quebec, which CP purchased earlier this year. Officials said the service would begin in 2021.
“It’s a special day when we get to announce the renewal of a contract with Hapag-Lloyd, our largest customer by volume and a world-class ocean carrier,” said CP President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel. “It’s through our network reach and disciplined execution of the precision scheduled railroading model that we can offer a caliber of service capable of winning our customers’ support in this way. With our expanded reach to the deep-water port at Saint John, we are proud to offer Hapag-Lloyd another reason to use our services.”
CP purchased CMQ for $130 million in November 2019. After getting approval from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board in May, the Class One took over operations in early June. CP now owns the line from Montreal to Brownville Jct., Maine. J.D. Irving’s Eastern Maine and New Brunswick Southern railways own the rest of the line across eastern Maine and New Brunswick. CP owned the lines until the 1990s when it sold its main line to the Maritimes. It was operated by a number of short lines in the years that followed, including Canadian American, Montreal Maine & Atlantic and CMQ.
In August, CP ran a few intermodal trains from Montreal to Saint John because of a port strike that forced Hapag-Lloyd to redirect ships to New Brunswick. Since CP took back CMQ, it has touted the line and its connection with NBSR as giving it an “East Coast Advantage” to go head-to-head with long-time rival Canadian National.
