CN a 'strong fit' for lumber dealer's growth strategy, new upper Michigan plant
11/25/2025
By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
A unique manufacturing facility opened in September along a CN line in Kincheloe, Michigan.
Located in the Chippewa County Industrial Park in Michigan’s upper peninsula, the $7.3 million, 20,000-square foot facility serves as a transportation and logistics hub for wood and lumber dealer Maple Transport Inc. The facility features a rail spur and is situated near Interstate 75.
The new manufacturing hub will support Michigan’s $20 billion forest products industry and serve other new or expanding businesses, Maple Transport officials say. Project funding included $5.8 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, $1.25 million in matching dollars from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., and contributions from the Chippewa County Economic Development Corp. and a Strategic Site Readiness Program (Invest UP) grant.
Construction began in spring 2024 on the manufacturing facility, which Maple Transport will use to ship wood products, CN officials said in an email. The facility will be served by both CN and trucks.
“The facility has space for two additional tenants seeking rail access, which Chippewa County hopes to fill within the next year,” said CN spokesperson Ashley Michnowski. “There is also additional land near the rail spur available for expansion and development of an outdoor transload facility.”
Maple Transport and its sister company Maple Hardwoods are a new customer for CN that hasn’t used rail before, she said.
“CN is a strong fit for Maple Transport/Maple Hardwoods and their growth strategy in wanting to move their product to markets across North America, and we are eager to assist,” said Michnowski.
The facility will enable CN to expand its reach in eastern upper Michigan through a third-party warehouse offering cross-docking and transload opportunities from truck to box car or box car to truck with direct service from the Class I.
“The potential reach of most transload facilities is approximately 60 to 100 miles to customers not directly served with a rail spur into their facility. This option will also allow CN to reach customers in northern lower Michigan because of the connections with the Mackinac bridge and Interstate 75,” Michnowski said.
The facility, which features a rail spur, is situated near Interstate 75, so it’s served both by CN and trucks.Maple Transport Inc.CN and its predecessors primarily served timber and aggregate customers in that part of Michigan’s upper peninsula using a combination of backtracks, sidings and spurs. Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, historically has been an anchor customer for most of the rail traffic on the line to that city, Michnowski said.
“The rail-served warehouse in Kincheloe diversifies the business mix on the CN line that serves the area and allows for continued growth,” she said. “The facility creates a pathway for increased carload business that would otherwise be difficult to capture.”
There currently are no other rail-served warehouses operating in this part of the upper peninsula, Michnowski added. The next closest reload-type warehouse is located across the border in Canada in Sault Ste. Marie and is served by the Algoma Central Railroad, a handling carrier for CN.
“This option allows shippers in upper Michigan and northern lower Michigan direct access to CN’s North American network,” said Michnowski.
