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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment