If you are looking to drive in the far northeastern U.S., you can just about put the six New England states in a bucket and pick your poison. Of course, if you want to avoid heavy traffic, you’re best to consider Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont. But if you like crowds and easy access to the Big Apple, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are likely more to your liking. And if you like toll roads, throw New York and Pennsylvania into the mix, and you’ll be in truck driver heaven! While the immense log drives to the coastal cities no longer fuel and shipbuilding economy, if you are a driver in Maine, chances are you’ll still be hauling timber. If that is to your liking, a small state with limited impact on the nation’s trucking industry like Maine is worth a close look. And if it wasn’t for Idaho, you couldn’t find a better place to haul potatoes to Boston-town. Maine-based drivers need to keep in mind the only route out of state (other than Canada) is through New Hampshire. We know those folks are “from away,” but take our advice and try to get along for the sake of your career. And take pride! Any Mainer will tell you a truck driver can serve no more noble a cause than delivering Maine’s largest export, fresh lobster, to those “inland folk.”
Geographic Advantages
Maine is situated in the far northeastern corner of the U.S. and contains the easternmost point in the nation. It is bordered by only one U.S. states, while providing access to Canada’s maritime provinces.
Bordering States/Countries
New Hampshire to the west, Canada to the northwest, north, and east.
As the U.S. economy experiences is ups and downs, Maine has a vital role in continuing the supply of a variety of products throughout the nation, primarily because approximately 15% of all trailers in the U.S. are registered in Maine.
Maine Ports
Maine’s Atlantic Ocean coastline offers the state many ports, the largest of which is Portland. Smaller ports include Searsport and Eastport.
Products Moved by Trucks
When it comes to truck driver jobs, Maine offers a few industries in which a driver can specialize as well as a large number of companies and carriers offering truck driver jobs. Whether products are exported out of state, out of the country, or simply remain in the state for the use of those living in Maine, according to the latest data from World’s Top Exports, the following are the primary products moved by truck drivers and offering many truck driving jobs to those calling Maine home:
- Fresh/chilled lobsters
- Aircraft including engines, parts
- Natural gas (gaseous state)
- Integrated circuits (excluding processors/controllers)
- Chemical wood pulp (non-coniferous)
- Coniferous rough wood including spruce
- Paper, paperboard
- Atlantic salmon
- Mucilage, thickeners
- Composite diagnostic/laboratory reagents
Maine Highways
Maine has only one interstate highway and 4 auxiliary interstates within its borders, with connections from the southwest corner of the state at Kittery to the New Brunswick border near Houlton. Interstate highways within Maine total 367 of the state’s 49,000 lane miles of roadway and include:
I-950 (north south) from Kittery to Houlton
Auxiliary interstate around larger cities
For more information on Maine and its truck driver jobs, visit www.mmta.com