I found a reasonable solution: 1) upgrade to Spring 3.1.3.RELEASE
2) Implement a Context Initializer Class: a) create a wrapper for your properties file (mine is just a static singleton for a PropertiesFile). b) create SpringContextInitializer: public class SpringContextInitializer implements ApplicationContextInitializer<ConfigurableWebApplicationContext> { private static final transient Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SpringContextInitializer.class); public void initialize(ConfigurableWebApplicationContext ctx) { LOG.trace("SpringContextInitializer: initialize"); ctx.getEnvironment().getPropertySources().addFirst(new SpringContextInitializerPropertySource("NGMSPropertiesRoute")); } } c) Implement a SpringContextInitializerPropertySource: public class SpringContextInitializerPropertySource extends PropertySource<NGMSPropertiesRoute> { private static final transient Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(SpringContextInitializerPropertySource.class); public SpringContextInitializerPropertySource(String name) { super(name); } @Override public Object getProperty(String name) { String val = PropertiesFactory.getPropertiesFactory().getRouteProperties().getProperty(name, null); LOG.trace("Spring asked for property: {}, returning: {}", name, val); return val; } } 3) Configure the web.xml file to use your context initializer: <context-param> <param-name>contextInitializerClasses</param-name> <param-value>com.mycompany.SpringContextInitializer</param-value> </context-param> and, now I can use property placeholder ANYWHERE - including the <import resource="${myvariable.name}" /> The writeup on this from Spring is at: http://blog.springsource.org/2011/02/15/spring-3-1-m1-unified-property-management/ Thanks! -- View this message in context: http://camel.465427.n5.nabble.com/Bridge-Property-Loading-Order-tp5722306p5722378.html Sent from the Camel - Users mailing list archive at Nabble.com.