Pan Am Systems

History

1981–2020

Guilford Transportation Industries (GTI) was formed in 1981. GTI entered the railroad business in 1981 with its purchase of the Maine Central Railroad Company from U.S. Filter Corporation. This was followed by its 1983 purchase of the Boston & Maine Railroad, and in 1984 it purchased the Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H). In 1988, GTI declared D&H bankrupt. Francis DiCello, an appointed bankruptcy trustee, oversaw the estate while the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway managed it employing the D&H workforce. Susquehanna's management expired in early 1990 and the trustee managed it directly until selling in 1991 to the Canadian Pacific Railway.

GTI purchased the name, colors, and logo of Pan American World Airways in 1998 and Pan Am Systems was established that same year. In March 2006, GTI changed its name to Pan Am Railways.

The company was privately owned by Timothy Mellon, an heir to the Mellon banking fortune, and several other stakeholders including former Penn Central employee David Fink and son David A. Fink.

CSX acquisition

In July 2020, Pan Am Systems was put up for sale.

On March 25, 2021, after numerous letters questioning CSX's acquisition of Pan Am Railways parent Pan Am Systems from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Vermont Rail System, as well as many other local political figures and community leaders from other New England states, the Surface Transportation Board ruled the acquisition as "Significant" meaning that a more rigorous review process would be necessary.

On April 30, 2021, CSX submitted a 478-page plan of purchase outlining a broad range of topics, from implementations of track upgrades to the controversial issue of Norfolk Southern intermodal routing, as well as the fate of Pan Am's hodgepodge fleet of aging motive power, which is made up of EMD and GE locomotives from railroads such as Conrail, NS, CSX, the Milwaukee Road, and Kansas City Southern.

On May 26, 2021, the federal regulators of the Surface Transportation Board rejected CSX's purchase application, deeming it "incomplete." The board cited "contradictions" and "lack of necessary information" to properly judge the acquisition, and therefore could not rule on the matter. While CSX has the option of re-submitting a revised application, which it has motioned toward in its official statement, the transaction stands on uncertain ground.

On July 30, 2021, the Surface Transportation Board accepted a revised merger application for consideration, allowing CSX to move forward with the acquisition on Pan Am Systems. The decision determined that an environmental and historic review are unnecessary and establishes criteria for additional filings, public comments, and a deadline for a final Surface Transportation Board decision.

The STB approved the sale of Pan Am Systems to CSX on April 14, 2022, for $600 million. At midnight on June 1, 2022, CSX began operating Pan Am Railways and Pan Am Systems was merged into a temporary subsidiary of CSX called 747 Merger Sub 2 which will become the new Pan Am Systems, the new Pan Am Systems and Pan Am Railways will eventually merge into CSX.

Divisions

Air

• Pan American Airways (1998–2004), a United States airline that operated scheduled services in the eastern USA under the purchased "Pan American Airways" brand, as well as charters for tour operators and services to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Operations ceased on November 1, 2004, and were transferred to the subsidiary Boston-Maine Airways, which resumed service as the Pan Am Clipper Connection brand.
• Boston-Maine Airways (Pan Am Clipper Connection), the formerly certified airline, which operated charter and scheduled passenger airline services between the northeastern United States and Florida and the Caribbean under the Pan Am Clipper Connection brand. In February 2008 the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed the revocation of Boston-Maine's air carrier certification, as it "is not financially fit and does not possess the managerial competence to conduct any air transportation operations and has failed to comply with the regulations governing its operations." Services ended on February 29, 2008.
• Pan Am Services, originally an aircraft service and support center, now a dealer of aircraft spare parts.
  • Facilities in Dover, New Hampshire and Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Manufacturing and energy

• Perma Treat Corporation, manufacturer of railroad ties and other pressure-treated wood products.
  • Facilities in Mattawamkeag, Maine and Durham, Connecticut.
• Aroostook & Bangor Resources, Inc., recycles used railroad ties to generate electricity.
  • Facilities in Mattawamkeag, Maine.

Rail

• Pan Am Railways (formerly Guilford Transportation Industries), a regional freight railroad network that covers most of northern New England. Subsidiaries that make up the Pan Am Railways network:
  • Boston and Maine Corporation
  • Maine Central Railroad Company
  • Portland Terminal Company
  • Springfield Terminal Railway Company
  • Pan Am Systems also owned 50% of Pan Am Southern, a joint venture of Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern Railway.
• Guilford Motor Express, providing intermodal loading/unloading/warehousing services.

Real estate

• NorthPoint, a mixed-use development in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transportation-related brands

• Pan Am Brands, distributor of consumer goods bearing the Pan Am logo.
  • Pan Am Brands licenses the name and logos to other companies for certain purposes. An example is Sony Pictures Television, which licensed the brand for the short-lived Pan Am TV series.

References

References

1. [http://www.hoovers.com/company/Pan_Am_Systems_Inc/hkhcif-1.html Pan Am Systems, Inc. – Company profile from Hoover's]
2. "Pan Am System, Inc.". State of Florida Division of Corporations.
3. (July 2020). "Maine's Biggest Railroad Is For Sale".
4. (November 30, 2020). "CSX to Acquire Pan Am Railways in New England". CSX Corp..
5. (April 14, 2022). "STB Approves CSX-Pan Am Combination". RailwayAge.
6. Stephens, Bill. (November 30, 2020). "CSX to acquire New England regional Pan Am Railways (updated)". [[Trains Magazine]].
7. "Federal regulators put higher hurdle in front of CSX-Pan Am deal (updated)".
8. "Rail News – CSX files amended application for proposed Pan Am acquisition. For Railroad Career Professionals".
9. "The Board Rejects as Incomplete the "Significant" Application Filed by CSXT & Pan Am in Control and Merger Proceeding".
10. "Federal regulators reject CSX-Pan Am merger application as incomplete (updated)".
11. "STB accepts updated CSX-Pan Am merger application".
12. "SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD DECISION – Docket No. FD 36472".
13. Berzon, Alexandra. (2024-07-28). "A Pedigreed Rail Magnate Is Pouring Millions Into Electing Donald Trump". The New York Times.
14. Haberman, Shir. "DOT ready to pull Boston-Maine's license to fly".
15. "Welcome to Pan Am Services!".
16. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060616145215/http://guilfordrail.com/xpress/2006Q1.pdf Pan Am company newsletter, January 2006]
17. "D'Amore-McKim School of Business – Northeastern University".
18. "Guilford Xpress, Vol. 15, Issue 7".
19. "Home page".
20. "Licensing". Pan Am.
21. Schneider, Michael. (September 20, 2010). "Pilot flies Pan Am". [[Variety (magazine).