Melford Atlantic Gateway terminal will serve U.S., Canadian markets via CN

SSA Marine, Melford International Terminal and Cyrus Capital Partners LP announced yesterday the formation of a joint venture that will construct a container terminal as part of the Melford Atlantic Gateway project in Nova Scotia.

The new 315-acre marine container terminal will be built at the Strait of Canso, Nova Scotia, and will become the closest North American port on the circle route to Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal, the companies announced in a joint press release.

The terminal will be designed to accommodate ultra-large container ships for trans-shipment along North America's East Coast and intermodal service to Eastern Canadian and U.S. markets through a connection to CN's rail network, they said.

"We have spent considerable effort over the years examining terminal opportunities on the East Coast of North America and we believe Melford — with its 20 meters of draft and the ability to reduce delivery time to U.S. and Canadian markets by two to six days via a local rail connection to the CN network, excellent workforce and private ownership — combines all the beneficial attributes to quickly establish itself as the pre-eminent first port of call for North America," said SSA Conventional President Mark Knudsen.

With access to CN's network, the Melford terminal will be able to provide "very competitive and efficient" service to the Eastern Canadian and Midwest U.S. markets, said Melford President Paul Martin.