Cable reels in Maine, from Kittery to Aroostook

The end of the road for a reel

Maine borders only one other state, New Hampshire, and everything that comes in by road comes through that short southern border or across from Canada. Cable arrives on reels from plants hundreds of miles away. The reels, once empty, have a long way to go to reach anyone who wants them, and that is the main reason empties collect in Maine yards and sit there.

Freight is paid by the trailer, so the answer is to fill one. A van of 36 or 42 inch reels, which Sonoco's packing guide puts at up to 200 and 120 respectively, spreads the trip south over a lot of reels. A small pile in Presque Isle does not, and may be better held until it can travel with others.

Central Maine Power and Versant

Two investor-owned utilities own Maine's distribution wires. Central Maine Power sold 4,547,695 MWh at retail in 2024 and serves the southern and central parts of the state, including Portland, Lewiston, Augusta and the midcoast. Versant Power, which sold 1,386,063 MWh, serves Bangor, Down East and Aroostook County. Retail marketers such as Constellation also sell power over those wires.

Maine is the most heavily forested state, and its line crews spend a great deal of time on storm repair: trees through lines after nor'easters, ice storms and summer thunderstorms. Rebuilds after storms, covered conductor, new poles and the odd underground section all leave empties, mostly mid-size distribution and service reels.

Up I-95 and along US-1

I-95 enters Maine at Kittery and runs as the Maine Turnpike past Portland and Lewiston to Augusta, then on to Waterville, Bangor and Houlton near the Canadian line. I-295 runs closer to the coast from Portland to Brunswick and Gardiner. US-1 follows the coast through the midcoast and Down East and then turns north to Aroostook. US-2 crosses the west and north.

Southern Maine lots are the easiest to move: Portland is roughly two hours from Boston, so a trailer from York or Cumberland County can reach Massachusetts buyers in a day and pair with reels from New Hampshire on the way. North of Bangor, distances stretch. Houlton is about 120 miles past Bangor, and Presque Isle farther still.

Mud season and posted roads

Every spring, as frost leaves the ground, Maine posts weight limits on many local and state roads to keep heavy trucks from breaking up soft roadbeds. The limits vary by road and year. A yard on a posted road may not see a loaded truck until the postings come off, which can be weeks.

If your reels sit on a posted road, say so, and we can plan the pickup for before the thaw or after the postings lift. Yards on I-95, the Turnpike or major state highways are rarely affected.

Winter, salt air and reel storage

Long winters, deep snow and coastal salt air are all hard on stored wood reels. Reels lying flat fill with snow and freeze in place; a flange frozen to the ground can split when it is lifted. Salt air rusts nails and loosens flange plies near the coast. Inland, rot starts where staves meet the flange on reels left lying in wet ground through a spring.

Stand empties on their flanges on gravel or timber before winter, keep a lane plowed, and keep the stencil side readable. Then send the list in the fall, when roads are open and a southbound trailer is easier to fill.

BEAD and Maine's fiber builds

NTIA's June 2023 table gave Maine $271,977,723.07 in BEAD funds, thirty-ninth among the states. Maine is one of the most rural states in the country, with many homes along long roads in the north, the western mountains and Down East, and much of the money goes to reaching them with fiber, much of it on existing poles.

Aerial fiber work uses small and mid reels in large numbers, and crews re-spool cut lengths constantly. They need drums at least 20 times the cable's outside diameter, per NEMA WC 26, and never under 12 inches. Clean 30x18x12 and 36x30x17 reels, standard outside-plant fiber sizes in Superior Essex's published guide, suit most of that work, and a Maine seller with sound ones has buyers in the same state.

Sending a Maine lot to the desk

1. 01

   Count by size

   Read each stencil as flange x traverse x drum and count each size.

2. 02

   Photograph

   A wide photo of the pile, a stencil photo per size and close-ups of damage.

3. 03

   Location and road

   Town, and whether the road to the yard is posted in spring.

4. 04

   Loading

   Forklift, loader, dock or none, and room for a trailer.

5. 05

   Timing

   Any deadline, and whether you can hold the reels for a combined run.