By Andrew Held, AJOT Build it and the freight will come. John Hudson, President of Atlantic Maritime Transit Agency in Boston, is seeking to build a coalition of stakeholders to restore steamship service between New England and the Canadian Maritimes. The coalition made up of private sector entities, such as steamship lines, local operators, 3PLs, freight forwards and others, would jointly own an operating company. Since the demise of the SPM, Halship and Eimskip service in early 2008, Hudson has been working to restore service between the regions. “I know the concept works,” claims Hudson, “but the silence from carriers has been deafening.” Hudson’s proposal has some key differences from earlier carrier services between New England and the Maritimes. He believes a successful container service requires a two-pronged strategy – a short-sea component in addition to traditional “feeder” services. The mainstay of NE-Maritimes services has traditionally been “overhead” transport of containers to and from the major steamship lines serving Halifax. But Hudson believes that cargo originating and destined for New England and the Maritimes has been virtually ignored. With diesel prices rising in the long-term, increased border hassles, and federal and state efforts to reduce highway congestion, he believes many shippers will support shifting freight to the marine mode. His experience with over 20 years in the business leads him to believe that “when you set up a new service… exciting patterns develop in ways you could never anticipate.” Hudson is not relying on word-of-mouth alone, but has put together a business plan to explore the service. Operations between New England and Nova Scotia would require “A 500 TEU ship, ideally with ro-ro capability, with a 15-16 knot speed and a bow thruster to eliminate the need for tugs”, to provide, in Hudson’s words, “Regularity, dependability and longevity.” He sees the need for an “A” service operating Halifax – Boston, and eventually supplemented with a “B” service that could serve smaller ports such as Argentia, Yarmouth, St. John, Portsmouth, Fall River, New Bedford, Providence and Davisville. Hudson was excited over his recent experience hosting a booth at the CONECT (Coalition for New England Companies in Trade) conference in Newport, RI. There he discovered strong interest from 3PL’s, a group he hadn’t heard much from previously. “They (3PLs) control a substantial portion of the container market,” said Hudson, “We think they can be an influential force, as well as the Customs House Brokers, Freight Forwards and major shippers such as Hasbro…”. Hudson has talked with many of the regional quasi-governmental entities and steamship lines, but believes they are in a wait-and-see mode. He is counting on private entities to recognize the potential of his proposal and “pick up the gauntlet.” Captain Jeffrey Monroe, former Deputy Port Director at Massport, and now a consultant with HDR Boston, views the maritime potential of New England – Nova Scotia services differently. Having seen the demise of the heavily-subsidized seasonal freight ferry between Portland and Yarmouth, and the recent discontinuance of a fast-ferry along the same route, Monroe sees potential for a “modern conventional vessel offering year-round service that could carry 50 trucks and 1,000 passengers on a 24-48 hour roundtrip.” He believes that a lack of consistency has been a major obstacle to developing maritime trade between the two regions. The state of Maine is “trying to pursue various options to replace the (discontinued seasonal) ferry service between Portland, Bar Harbor and Yarmouth, NS,” said Nicole Clegg, Communications Director for the Maine Department of Ports and Transportation, “we’re talking with private entities… but we’re not necessarily looking at a high-speed option.”