Port of Prince Rupert may benefit from Prince George pellet plant

The ravages of the pine beetle epidemic have given birth to a fast growing if temporary industry of harvesting the damaged wood for a variety of projects, one of which could see an increase in shipments through the Port of Prince Rupert.

Pinnacle Pellet, a Central Interior company based out of Quesnel, is working on contracts that could lead to the shipment of wood pellets destined for Ridley Terminals from a new pellet facility outside of Prince George.

The Monday Daily news had details on the story.

Rupert port could be in line for pellet shipments
BY CARLA WINTERSGILL
The Daily News
Monday, June 16, 2008

Pages three and five

A new wood pellet factory outside of Prince George could mean extra activity for the Prince Rupert port.

Pinnacle Pellet has a brand new plant that is scheduled to open in July and although nothing is definite yet, the extra pellets could be coming this way.

"We've had great support from Prince Rupert and the Ridley terminal facility and it's exciting to be a part of Prince Rupert's growth," senior Pinnacle Pellet official Peter Brand said.

"I wish we could get more of our pellets in containers and ship them that way. I think that will come in the future."

The highest demand for wood pellets comes from outside North America. Most are usually shipped to Europe or Asia.

“We’re actually talking to a number of potential customers right now,” said Brand.
As for exactly where they will be going and how much the shipping volume will increase, Brand says at this point it is premature to speculate.

The other opinion is to keep the pellets in North America, and with rising fuel costs, it’s thought that the demand for wood pellets in Canada will soon increase as well.

“We’re not in the forest product business when we’re in the wood pellet business,” said John Swaab, executive director of the Pellet Association of Canada. “We’re in the energy business”
Unusable dead pine left over from the pine beetle epidemic can be converted into millions of pebble-sized pieces that can then be used as a source of energy. Brand said that the amount of standing dead pine could transform into 150 million tones of wood pellets.

“We’re taking unmanageable wood residue and refining it into a controllable, concise product for energy purposes, said Swaab.

Because it is more dense than sawdust or wood shavings, it is easier to ship. Swaab notes that there is a misperception that burning wood produces air pollution.

He said that pellets are a clean-burning fuel. Also, the wood fuel is considered carbon neutral.
For Swaab, wood pellets seem like the perfect solution for the acres of dead trees caused by the pine beetle epidemic.

“If we can’t utilize them, at the end of the day we can always use it for energy,” he said.

Ridley Terminals adds Pellets to the shipment mix

Wood pellets are now being shipped out of the Port of Prince Rupert, as Ridley Terminals exported the first load of pellets on Sunday. It’s a new addition to the shipment mix on Ridley Island and one that could expand quite quickly in the years to come.

The Daily News provided a review of the project and a look down the road in Tuesday’s paper.

PELLETS ADD NEW STRING TO RIDLEY’S BOW
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Page one

On Sunday, Ridley Terminals shipped out its first load of wood pellets from Houtson Pellet Inc., marking the beginning of another new product being handled at the terminal.

Greg Slocombe, CEO of the bulk handling facility, said he believes this is the beginning of very good partnership.

“This is a brand new business and we think we are on the right end,” said Slocombe. “There is huge opportunity on the supply side in British Columbia.”

The pine beetle epidemic in the Interior is causing elevated harvesting levels as forestry companies rush to bring in the timber before it is completely useless.

While the wood pellets from Houston Pellet Inc. are manufactured from a byproduct of wood being put through a mill, the rush to harvest wood from the Interior could result in additional wood pellet production.

“Two or three years from now we may see them harvesting trees just to make pellets,” said Slocombe. “We are in at the right end.”

Slocombe believes it could go from a 100,000 tonne business annually to 1.1 million tones business in five years.

Houston Pellet is a partnership of Canadian Forest Products (Canfor), Pinnacle Pellet and the Moricetown First Nations. The 6mm pellets are manufactured from planer shavings and sawdust from the Canfor Houston sawmill. The pellets will be sold both overseas and into the domestic pellet market for home heating.

CN Rail is transporting the pellets from Houston to Ridley, where they will be stored in a 105-metre wide silo and loaded onto ships able to hold 8,000 to 9,000 metric tones.

The first shipment is destined for the Netherlands and from there will be transported to Belgium.

Ridley Terminals is operating the new loading facility that was built by Houston Pellet.

Ridley Terminals, a federally-owned corporation, has struggled financially and has only recently begun operating without government assistance.

Partnerships such as this give the terminal the opportunity to continue to diversify the products it handles and provides stability for the long term from the ups and downs of the coal market.

“We are having to share the benefits but we are tied in with an excellent company,” he said. And the arrangement between the companies is structured so other small operators can move their product through Ridley.

The new equipment at the terminal to handle wood pellets includes a pellet rail car unloading building, rail car hopper gate opening equipment, a pellet unloading conveyor designed to move the pellets to the storage silo, the pellet storage silo itself, and a pellet silo unloading conveyor that goes out to the ship.