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BUSINESS A25
Monday 1 February 2016
New rail link to Maine waterfront could revive port
TOM BELL portation bills, which make loaded the containers onto In this Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 photo, an Icelandic cargo ship is
Associated Press manufacturing less competi- flat rail cars. “We’re not look- loaded with containers in Portland, Maine.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) tive and increase costs for ing at Maine as being at the
— Freight trains are rolling consumers. The LePage ad- end of the transportation Associated Press
through New England car- ministration has been trying trail, but as the front door to
rying the first-ever shipping to change those dynamics, a different part of the world.”
containers loaded on the first in 2013 by luring Eimskip, The new facility allows con- Massachusetts. It’s gener- & Ports, a trade publication,
Portland waterfront. The new an Icelandic shipping com- tainers to be moved between ally cheaper to move heavier said he is skeptical the new
train service is the product pany, to carry containerized ships and trains, and also be- cargo by train than by truck, terminal will be successful.
of years of planning and mil- cargo between Portland and tween trucks and trains. because more can be moved He said he has seen others
lions in public and private Europe, and then by expand- Pan Am Railways began the at one time with lower fuel in Maine fail because there
investment, with the goal of ing the Portland container service Friday, hauling Poland costs and fewer workers. hasn’t been enough demand
connecting this once-thriving terminal. The state spent $29 Springs bottled water packed Because Pan Am trains will to make the operations eco-
port by rail with freight cus- million in state and federal in blue Eimskip containers. carry containers delivered by nomical.
tomers throughout North money to modernize the ter- This is the first phase of a both truck and by ship, it will “The big unknown is what
America. minal and expand it by about pilot project. Three days a have enough volume to sup- Eimskip can bring to this,”
State officials see the rail link 1,500 feet to reach the end of week — Friday, Saturday and port regular service to Port- he said. “Can Eimskip add
as key to reviving the port, the rail line, which previously Sunday — a train carrying 15 land, Humeniuk said. enough volume so Pan Am
which was among the larg- had only carried bulk cargo, containers of bottle water will Chop Hardenbergh, editor will say it’s worthwhile to run
est on the East Coast a cen- like rolls of paper, to and from travel to Ayer, Massachusetts. of Atlantic Northeast Rails a train?”q
tury ago but had fallen in past the port. There, the containers will be
decades to a near-dormant The opening of the rail link is put on trucks and delivered to
state, losing business to larg- an historic moment for the nearby wholesale suppliers.
er ports. port, said Jack Humeniuk, Until now, Maine companies
Stuck at the end of the na- vice president of the Portland that lack rail access had to
tion’s supply line, Maine has Longshoremen’s Benevolent truck containers to termi-
struggled with higher trans- Association, whose members nals in Ayer and Worcester,
Banks reach $154.3 million
settlement on “dark pool” fraud
JOSH BOAK A July 29, 2015 file photo shows the sign on a branch of Barclays
AP Business Writer Bank in London.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two
major global banks, Bar- Associated Press
clays and Credit Suisse,
are paying a combined those who look the other tional markets with public
$154.3 million to settle gov- way.” prices, trades on dark pools
ernment investigations that Zurich-based Credit Suisse, are generally confidential,
they misled clients about a major firm on Wall Street, a benefit for companies
being able to safely trade said it was “pleased to engaging in large transac-
on their “dark pool” finan- have resolved these mat- tions.
cial exchanges, the Secu- ters.” Barclays was unavail- The investigations — as well
rities and Exchange Com- able for comment. as books including Michael
mission said Sunday. The SEC and New York Lewis’ best-seller “Flash
The banks left their cus- Attorney General had Boys: A Wall Street Revolt”
tomers on these private planned to announce the — found that high-speed
exchanges vulnerable to joint settlement Monday traders could get early ac-
“predatory, high-frequen- before it was reported by cess to dark pool trades
cy traders” that could in- The Wall Street Journal Sun- and gain an unfair advan-
tercept and profit off their day morning. tage.
financial transactions, de- Dark pools are private ex- “Dark pools have a sig-
spite assurances by Bar- changes for trading stocks nificant role in today’s eq-
clays and Credit Suisse to and bonds. Unlike tradi- uity marketplace, and the
the contrary, according to
a draft statement from the
New York Attorney Gener-
al obtained by The Associ-
ated Press.
“These cases mark the first
major victory in the fight
to combat fraud in dark
pool trading,” said New
York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman in the state-
ment. “We will continue to
take the fight to those who
aim to rig the system and
