Management at rail giant CN, the only railway serving the Port of Halifax, isn’t willing to talk publicly about the possibility of also providing rail support for the proposed Maher Melford Terminal on the Strait of Canso — not yet anyway.

CN is already working closely with the eventual operator of the Maher Melford Terminal, Maher Terminals LLC, which manages the upstart Prince Rupert Container Terminal in British Columbia. Maher is also the operator of a major terminal on the New Jersey side of the Port of New York.

CN’s business is growing along with Prince Rupert’s because it provides the rail transport to markets inland. But Mongeau wasn’t willing to extrapolate Prince Rupert’s success to suggest what might happen at Melford — although the Guysborough County community would become the first port of call for shippers using the transatlantic route to bring in goods from Southeast Asia via the Suez Canal.

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