January 7, 2013
Maine ports make headlines in 2012
By Matt Dodge
Maine's maritime ports made headlines as 2012 came to a close, with talk of re-establishing ferry service to Canada, a narrowly averted strike and a new budgetary highwater mark for one of Maine's busiest ports. Here's the ebb and flow:
- Portland city officials say re-establishing regular ferry service between Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and the city could add another commercial freight transportation option to the city's waterfront, saving fuel and providing an alternative for tractor-trailers now traveling a 400-mile highway route between the two cities, according to Portland City Councilor Nicholas Mavodones Jr. Nova Scotia's government has set a Jan. 24 deadline for proposals to be submitted to its Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism for re-establishing ferry service between the Canadian province and Portland. Officials have said the government would subsidize as much as $21 million over seven years to help restore the ferry service, which ended three years ago.
- An East and Gulf Coast port strike that would have shut down 14 container ports from Maine to Texas was averted in late December, following a tentative contract agreement reached between the longshoremen's union and shipping companies, with the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance clinching a deal in federally mediated talks less than two days before a strike deadline set by the union.
- Expecting continued shipment increases, the Eastport Port Authority has approved a $1.5 million budget for next year, nearly double its 2006 budget. Port Director Chris Gardner told The Quoddy Tides that the latest budget doesn't include projected revenue from a wood chip business he expects will begin shipping to Europe from Eastport and could lease port property in 2013. For other port traffic — wood pulp and cattle — Gardner told the paper he expects tonnage to stay on par with recent years.
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