Maine USA - CP on 17 May 2022 celebrated the launch of the facility, located in Jackman, Maine, with officials from Hapag-Lloyd, DP World (the operator of Port Saint John in New Brunswick), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as well as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and representatives from the town of Jackman, among others.
 
"For more than a century beginning in the late 1800s, CP operated trains across the Canada-U.S. border near Jackman, Maine," the railroad reports.
 
"The corridor was sold to a shortline in 1995.
 
In 2020, we reacquired the line with the purchase of the Central Maine & Quebec Railway, which links with Eastern Maine and New Brunswick Southern.
 
This critical route connects Port Saint John and inland points on CP's system, including Montreal, Toronto, and Chicago.
 
We are already realizing significant growth in the corridor.
 
For example, ocean container line Hapag-Lloyd began operating weekly service through Port Saint John in 2021 and recently announced it will add a second seasonal weekly call."
 
Adjacent to the new border station is a "live lift" operation, which the Class I railroad says allows it to remove individual containers from trains when CBP flags them for inspection.
 
"Similar to the Portal, North Dakota, live lift, which opened in 2017, the Jackman live lift means only containers flagged for inspection need to experience delays incidental to the inspection process," CP explains.
 
"Previously, entire rail cars would need to be set out. Since intermodal well cars are often connected in sets of up to five platforms, as many as 15 containers could be delayed for a day or more each time CBP ordered a single container inspected."
 
The railroad points out that "camera and access controls help to protect the integrity of customer goods while at the facility.
 
CBP's cargo inspections occur indoors within a well-lit inspection bay.
 
In addition, on-site customs officers can interact directly by computer with the local CBP port of entry when additional information is needed to enable cargo release.
 
"CP and CBP each have important roles to fulfill at border crossings. It's our role to move goods for our customers. It's CBP's role to safeguard the border while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade. Our collaboration on the Jackman border station exemplifies how companies and government agencies can work together for the benefit of the supply chain and the larger economy. As a cross-border company, we need to be experts at getting shipments between the two countries safely and efficiently. The investments we've made at Jackman show our commitment to that," CP Senior Manager Trans-Border Strategy Service Allan Schepens says.
 
Author unknown.