The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway(MMA), owner and operator of rail line and equipment in the North West of the United States and South Eastern Canada, has announced that due to the current economic climate, the company has cut back on services as well as reduce its workforce.

Currently operating 25 trains daily with a fleet of 32 locomotives, the cutback to services is said to involve reducing operations from six days a week to five on the company’s main line between Millinocket, Maine and Montreal, with trains on most other main and secondary lines operating just three days a week.

Bob Grindrod, the President of MMA, speaking to the situation, has said that "the current economy has caused a downturn in paper, lumber and other
forest products shipments which, along with extraordinary snow removal and
spring flooding expenses, have forced us to make adjustments to keep the
railroad operating efficiently and still provide reliable service to our
customers."

Paper and forest products generate about 60 percent of MMA’s volume, with the company handling about 40,000 freight shipments annually.  However paper company, Katahdin Paper, recently announced that they were preparing to close its facilities in Millinocket, a facility that had MMA had transported raw materials too, shipments that accounted for up to 12 percent of the company’s car-loadings.

In an effort to gain additional customers for its services, MMA has launched an international initiative to increase shipments via Searsport, Maine.  The company’s Mack Point terminal, according to Bob Grindrod , is "one-to-three days shorter sailing time between Europe and large East Coast ports."  Grindrod also noted that the terminal enjoys less congestions and that the company has larger clearances for oversized shipments.

MMA connects with nine class one  regional and local railroads and provides the shortest, most-direct rail link between Northern Maine, Saint John, NB and Montreal.

Source: PR Newswire and Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway

This entry was posted on Friday, July 4th, 2008 at 8:22 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.