The Wood and Fiber Supply Chain Experts
Ports Move to Capitalize on Wood Exports
From the March 2010 Forest2Mill newsletter.
In the Northwest, at the Port of Port Angeles in Washington, a
554-foot bulk cargo ship is ready for loading. The ship will carry logs—the equivalent of 2 million
board feet of lumber—to Korea and China. At the Port of Astoria in Oregon, the port commission has
started lease negotiations with Westerlund Log Handlers for 12-15 acres of land for 10 years.
Westerlund intends to export logs to China.
An increasing number of Pacific coast port authorities are investigating potential
opportunities for increasing exports. Some, like Port Angeles and Astoria, are reclaiming the past
and hoping to export logs just as they did decades ago. Others are looking to export wood pellets
to new energy markets. Since domestic demand for wood products is likely to remain anemic for
the next five years, there is hope in these communities that exporting wood to Asia will create
jobs and support local economies.
In Canada and increasingly in the Northwest, all eyes appear to be on China. In China, the
economy is still growing. Despite the fact that the developing nation has depleted most of its
forest resources, wood frame construction is beginning to find new life there. Recent changes in
building codes in places like Shanghai are more favorable for wood. The post-earthquake need for
new construction has also increased demand for logs and lumber. Canada has been taking advantage of
this turn in the Chinese market, and it looks like the U.S. is now preparing to do the same.
Further south, in Sacramento, interest is not in logs or lumber, but in wood pellets. In
December, the Sacramento-Yolo Port Commission approved a permit for Enligna US to develop a wood
pellet manufacturing facility at the Port of West Sacramento. By the end of 2010, Enligna expects
to begin production of up to 170,000 tons of wood pellets annually. The company says it will export
to Asia, Canada and Europe.
On the East Coast, pellets are also driving business to the ports. RWE Innogy, a German utility company, announced plans for a 750,000 ton per year pellet mill in Waycross, Georgia recently. In less than a year, the company plans to start shipping pellets just over 100 miles to the Port of Savannah, where they will beging their journal to a co-fired electricity plant in the Netherlands. The city of Savannah sees this as the first in a line of pellet operations that will follow suit.