Due to developments in the pulp and paper industry in Thunder Bay, Ontario, operations at the Canadian Pacific Railway's freight container terminal in Thunder Bay will be suspended as of April 28, 2006.

Terminal activity has been declining over the years, and last year it processed a daily average of fewer than 10 containers. Freight traffic will dwindle further with the closure of the Cascades Fine Papers Group plant in Thunder Bay and the recent workforce reduction announcement by Bowater.

No CPR jobs will be impacted by the closure, but five employees of two independent contractors who work at the terminal - Fastfrate and Thunder Bay Welding - will be affected.

The intermodal terminal is located on eight acres of leased property, and there are no known redevelopment plans for the site. Following the closure the railway will have 19 intermodal terminals handling domestic and ocean-going containers for North American and international maritime freight service.

"This wasn't an easy decision but it's based on terminal activity," said CPR spokesman Ed Greenberg.