AUBURN – U.S. Customs Service officials will soon start inspecting cargo at the city’s freight transportation facility, relieving shippers of the need to transport imported cargo containers to Portland for inspection.

The Customs Service has proposed making the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Intermodal Facility an official port of entry into the country. Customs officials must publicize the change in the Federal Register for 90 days before it becomes official.

Auburn Economic Development Director Roland Miller said imported freight is now loaded on a carrier and shipped to Portland, where it is held for inspection and then shipped back.

When Auburn becomes a port of entry, customs officials will inspect imported cargo in Auburn, which should make for faster and less-expensive shipping.

“That saves at least two trips, and whatever time is lost while everything is waiting to be processed,” Miller said.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe said the St. Lawrence facility each year processes about 500 40-foot containers that arrive by train from Canada.

She said company officials have identified potential customers that could result in 35,000 international containers coming through the facility each year. The absence of an onsite inspector, however, is seen as an obstacle to growth.

“Currently, the Auburn intermodal facility is limited in the number of containers it can process, hindering its ability to compete for high-volume cargo shipments, while also creating obstacles to a smooth inspection process,” Snowe said.

The Auburn facility opened in 1994, providing a link between the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad and the Maine Turnpike.

The city has been trying to get port-of-entry status for the facility since 1998. Miller said an October meeting with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and her staff in Washington last month helped convince customs officials.

“They recognized that this was a very important topic for us, and for the whole state,” Miller said. “Maine really needs some good long haul transportation options to be competitive, and this will really do that.”