[Saint John] Port Development

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by Ottawa

Yup. Going from 1577 to 1740. Which is about 10% larger. That seems to be the way CMA works lately. Every once in awhile an extra 10%.

Is this driven by growth, or other reasons ? Also will the 600 empties be sent to Montreal onwards ?

[Ottawa]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Is this driven by growth, or other reasons ? Also will the 600 empties be sent to Montreal onwards ?

My opinion - It is either scrapping of smaller ships or growth. I think this is growth.

My opinion - They will be sent to Europe and beyond to cover the Suez problem.

I welcome a better answer if anyone has it.

[PSJ harbour]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Is this driven by growth, or other reasons ? Also will the 600 empties be sent to Montreal onwards ?

MSC is strictly paper products in Saint John. Empties are always discharged, seldom any loads discharged. Loads always loaded from domestic plants, mills, etc. no rail involved with MSC.

Cma, the turnaround in Saint John has been stable for a couple years. The ships are only partial loaded when they come here, so not bigger size for Saint John Port, perhaps lots of cargo in New York, next call of port after Saint John. Just a guess.

[cdnguys]

MSC Baltic III coming in next month - first time? Additional, or replacing another ship?

[CharlotteCountyLogan]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

MSC Baltic III coming in next month - first time? Additional, or replacing another ship?

Replacing a ship on the MSC service that has called in SJ for 10 years now. I would be surprised if MSC adds anymore calls into SJ. They seem to be focusing on Halifax

[PSJ harbour]

Originally Posted by CharlotteCountyLogan

Replacing a ship on the MSC service that has called in SJ for 10 years now. I would be surprised if MSC adds anymore calls into SJ. They seem to be focusing on Halifax

MSC is certainly focusing on Halifax, as there are now 5 weekly calls. They did not even call Halifax 5 years ago. Halifax has one rail line, CN. If the MSC Saint John cargo came in via rail, it would be concerning. However, I can’t see MSC leaving Saint John as all the cargo is trucked in from mills around the city. MSC also has money in Montreal port, and the current service that calls in Saint John, comes from Montreal and Corner Brook. I can’t see MSC giving this cargo up without a big push against Hapag and CMA.

[Ottawa]

I just noticed the MOL EXPERIENCE is heading direct to Southampton. This may have happened before, but when I have taken note of it, they always stop at Halifax first. Just noticing.

The MSC ALDEBARAN III is going to be calling at Saint John mid April. This is similar to the MSC ships already calling so this may be just replacing an existing ship.

Does anybody have any idea when they are going to remove that load on the Rodney north pier? It's been covered for the best part of a year IIRC.

[CharlotteCountyLogan]

Originally Posted by Ottawa

I just noticed the MOL EXPERIENCE is heading direct to Southampton. This may have happened before, but when I have taken note of it, they always stop at Halifax first. Just noticing.

The MSC ALDEBARAN III is going to be calling at Saint John mid April. This is similar to the MSC ships already calling so this may be just replacing an existing ship.

Does anybody have any idea when they are going to remove that load on the Rodney north pier? It's been covered for the best part of a year IIRC.

Few posts here
1) i think this might be the first time a ONE ship has skipped Halifax and continued straight to Europe since the service first came to SJ.
2) where did you see that the MSC Aldebaran iii is coming to the port. I expect it to be a replacement on the current service but would be excited if it was a new service

[PSJ harbour]

Originally Posted by CharlotteCountyLogan

Few posts here
1) i think this might be the first time a ONE ship has skipped Halifax and continued straight to Europe since the service first came to SJ.
2) where did you see that the MSC Aldebaran iii is coming to the port. I expect it to be a replacement on the current service but would be excited if it was a new service

The ONE ships have been known to be delayed and off schedule. They are on a 78 ish day cycle and the MOL Experience initial pilot cancelled due to wind. My guess is to save time the MOL simply skipped Halifax to gain a bit of time and the cargo will be rolled on to the next ship on rotation.

Regarding the MSC ships; MSC is using numerals at the end of the name to distinguish its size. The Naisha III, Samira III have also called here, and carry roughly 3000 teus, which has been a favourable size for this service the last couple years. I’m not sure of the load that is covered, is it on a flat rack in the back reach of the cranes!?

[Ottawa]

I was just trying to see if anything interesting would be happening in April, etc so I went to https://www.msc.com/en/search-a-schedule and did a 'point to point' search for CASJB to HKHKG(Saint John to Hong Kong) It shows later dates that way.

[PSJ harbour]

Originally Posted by Ottawa

I was just trying to see if anything interesting would be happening in April, etc so I went to https://www.msc.com/en/search-a-schedule and did a 'point to point' search for CASJB to HKHKG(Saint John to Hong Kong) It shows later dates that way.

Freeport, Bahamas is a major hub. There is cargo from Saint John, that is dumped at Freeport and put on other ships, transshipment, to Asian destinations. That schedule may show a transshipment schedule, not certain. Would be great to get another service from MSC. They have been loyal and consistent to us.

[FromMaine]

Freeport is a major MSC transshipment hub… you can go anywhere from there so no surprise. AV Birla is a major user of containers of dissolving wood pulp out of New Brunswick going to India, amongst others… that is to say all the MSC traffic is local and would add costs to move to MTL or HAL. There are other shippers of local goods too. MSC now has a minority ownership in PSA Halifax too so they will develop new trades there with CN.

For the MOL/ONE vessel, as mentioned to make up time it would be called a “cut and run” to skip a call and just steam onward. The next ship usually has capacity and time to grab the leftover anyways on these moves.

[Ottawa]

CP 8781, CPKC's Saint John Express, was the third locomotive in this afternoon's eastbound train. It is unfortunate that this doesn't go beyond Brownville Jct., ME. This locomotive is one of the most sought after by special paint enthusiasts.

This event is available for replay @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuJyYaN0DNE until 2:00 am Atlantic Tuesday morning. It was at 2:00 PM Atlantic time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuJyYaN0DNE

Hopefully it will be leading Tuesday morning's westbound train on the return to Montreal available on the same webcam. That usually happens after 8 AM Atlantic, but no guarantees. They have a 12 hour buffer so you get time to rewind if you miss it live.

[Ottawa]

Originally Posted by Ottawa

CP 8781, CPKC's Saint John Express, was the third locomotive in this afternoon's eastbound train. It is unfortunate that this doesn't go beyond Brownville Jct., ME. This locomotive is one of the most sought after by special paint enthusiasts.

This event is available for replay @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuJyYaN0DNE until 2:00 am Atlantic Tuesday morning. It was at 2:00 PM Atlantic time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuJyYaN0DNE

Hopefully it will be leading Tuesday morning's westbound train on the return to Montreal available on the same webcam. That usually happens after 8 AM Atlantic, but no guarantees. They have a 12 hour buffer so you get time to rewind if you miss it live.

CP 8781 was not on the return trip to Montreal his morning. It would be great if it actually made it to it's namesake destination.

My account here seems to be getting hacked. The link in my 'signature' was not mine. I deleted it and a few other links and changed my password. Hopefully that will resolve it.

[Ottawa]

CP had a very few non-powered scale model replicas of the Saint John Express handmade and given to those who had a connection to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9bXEDUjhp8

[FromMaine]

8781 made it down to Northern Maine Jct (NMJ) in Bangor area with a ballast train as this month CPKC is doing considerable work at its “other” port, Searsport, ahead of some windmill trains coming next month.

[Ottawa]

Originally Posted by FromMaine

8781 made it down to Northern Maine Jct (NMJ) in Bangor area with a ballast train as this month CPKC is doing considerable work at its “other” port, Searsport, ahead of some windmill trains coming next month.

Yup, maybe next time.

I believe parts of that stretch has been 10 mph for awhile now. Hopefully that work will increase the speed there.

[Steelcowboy]

Hey everyone, just thought i'd pop in to say hello... I was reading the past few pages from this group. Seeing that I work on trains in and out of Saint John and am very hopeful for future traffic in and out of the port on our lines. It is nice to see containers back on the CN side, hopefully that continues to grow as it makes a great connection at Moncton for all points west a few hours after its arrival. With AIM slowly closing shop at the pier in Saint John and eventually moving to Scoudouc, is this a new and much faster expectation for the container port to expand..almost 2 fold? Or will it take sometime to assume that lot of land that AIM worked on.

[Ottawa]

Originally Posted by Steelcowboy

Hey everyone, just thought i'd pop in to say hello... I was reading the past few pages from this group. Seeing that I work on trains in and out of Saint John and am very hopeful for future traffic in and out of the port on our lines. It is nice to see containers back on the CN side, hopefully that continues to grow as it makes a great connection at Moncton for all points west a few hours after its arrival. With AIM slowly closing shop at the pier in Saint John and eventually moving to Scoudouc, is this a new and much faster expectation for the container port to expand..almost 2 fold? Or will it take sometime to assume that lot of land that AIM worked on.

Hi Steelcowboy. I was hoping we could get a more informed opinion than mine but perhaps not at this point in time. The plans for the intermodal port were made taking AIM's lease contract into account so I am assuming that there were no plans made to take over that lot prior to the expiry of that contract which would have been somewhere in the range of another 18 or 19 years. That has all changed now so I am guessing we're looking at many options going forward.

Perhaps it will help in the expansion of intermodal past 800K, but that is dependent upon the international intermodal business environment which waxes and wanes on all kinds of events. Perhaps it could be a location for the potential cold storage facility. Everybody who knows anything about that isn't giving us any clues about it, except that it is being worked on.

My personal opinion is that DP World is at least investigating, or already has investigated the potential for their future needs. It would need to be dredged to accommodate larger ships. That may not be the preferred spot to do that. I can't give even an educated guess other than I am sure the port is looking at how to use that space most efficiently. DP World has a 30 year contract once the modernization of the port is complete. I am not sure of what that means in exact dates, but it does mean they know that it takes time to develop the business and they are in it for the long haul.

Nobody is giving us any hints right now. Whatever it becomes, it will be an important space in the future of the port.

As for other rail opportunities, CSX is planning on having fast trains through Maine this year. They opened their interchange with NBSR a few months ago and have had a significant uptick in business with NBSR even though their yard and connecting lines are not fully upgraded yet. And yes, they have clearance issues that only allow single stack intermodal at this point. They have stated that that situation will not change until they have completely gotten their New England trackage (former PanAm) up to their present standards. That is understandable, but many believe they will remedy that situation down the road.

NBSR looks like they are continuing to convert all their mainline track in NB and Maine to 115lb CWR. They are adding to their intermodal and other yard space in Saint John as well as doubling their track from the port to Ponderosa Yard. They are getting deliveries of more locomotives from Progress Rail.

All the rail companies are key partners to the business of the port and it is good to see them preparing for the future because it is not something that happens overnight. It takes years to rebuild an infrastructure that was neglected for decades.

[Ottawa]

There will be a new webcam starting on March 23 at the McAdam station. If it is like other stations on the BAML network, it will have a 12 hour buffer so you can see events you may have missed due of time constraints. There is no link yet as it is not up and running. It will be part of the Boston and Maine Live offering on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/@BostonAndMaineLive