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December 7, 2010

Rail access dispute continues

By The Mainebiz News Staff

A battle over rail line access in northern Maine is still simmering, leading Twin Rivers Paper Co. to circumvent using Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway's freight service and instead truck its paper to Canada.

MM&A and Canadian National Railway Co. have filed lawsuits against each other over access to the 24-mile rail spur on which Twin Rivers sits, tracks owned by MM&A. CN argues it has rights to provide service to the mill based on a previous agreement between the two companies, while MM&A claims it has sole access to the mill. Twin Rivers, which has expressed dissatisfaction with MM&A's service and sought to use CN instead, filed as an intervener in the case. A judge last month heard arguments and urged the companies to reach a compromise, and the next hearing on the case is Dec. 20.

Twin Rivers stopped using MM&A's freight service Thursday and has instead been trucking its paper to Canada, where it is loaded onto freight cars, according to the Bangor Daily News. Twin Rivers President and CEO Jeffrey Dutton told the paper MM&A declined to offer the mill a new, less expensive shipping agreement to move the paper from its mill to New Brunswick, where it is picked up by CN trains. He said the company plans to continue trucking the paper to Canada, which is more cost effective, until an agreement over access is reached. MM&A has said that losing Twin Rivers, its largest single customer, would cost the company $3 million in revenue a year.

Go to the article from the Bangor Daily News >>

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