Dragon Products ends rail shipments from South End spur

Dragon Products has stopped shipping cement along the Rockland South End rail line in Maine, USA. A representative of the cement manufacturer in Thomaston said the last planned shipment by barge from the South End marine terminal in Rockland departed on 13 January 2022. The company announced in August 2021 it would stop barge shipments and would stop using the South End Rockland rail spur.

The cement plant purchased the 44 Atlantic St property in 1994. The Thomaston cement plant has since operated the marine terminal in Rockland. The cement plant sends rail cars about five miles on the line from the Thomaston plant to its dock on Rockland’s South End waterfront, where a barge is then filled and product shipped to the Boston market.

The decision was made because the rail cars would no longer be licensed for service. Dragon will continue to sell cement from the plant in trucks and ship cement directly to its customers but not to the terminal.

A company representative said there are no current plans to sell the property. The property totals 8.1 acres with a nearly 44,000ft² former warehouse, and the property and buildings are assessed at US$2.7m.