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New Zealand hits forestry slump
The NZ forestry industry is currently
in slump as producers struggle
with freight rates that have
more than doubled in the last 12
months and a steep rise in the
value of the NZ dollar. The total
value of exports for the financial
year ended 30 June 2004 fell eight
per cent to NZ$3226 mill. Hardest
hit were log and pole exports,
Czech cassettes
German ro-ro equipment designer
CONTEC has won a
new order for 200 ro-ro cassettes
from Finnish operator Finnlines.
The 40ft, 80 tonne capacity
units, which will be fitted with
WCI 1073 twistlocks with a
modified handle from William
Cook Intermodal (seven
twistlocks per cassette), will be
built in the Czech Republic by
Sokolovske Strojirny AS, which
entered into a licence and marketing
agreement with Contec
at the end of last year. The first
of the Finnlines units, which fea-
ture a number of new features,
are due to come off the production
line in the middle of next
month.
The Contec/Sokolovske
Strojirny combination has already
delivered 57 40ft, 60 tonne
ro-ro cassettes to Finnish paper
supplier M-real. These units
were built to the same Contec
design as 1250 units delivered to
Swedish paper supplier MoDo
between 1994 and 1996, but feature
improvements in the tunnel
and short end designs. M-
real acquired MoDo in 2000. ❏
The first CONTEC-designed cassettes to be built by Sokolovske Strojirny
were delivered to M-real earlier this year
NZ’s forestry industry is feeling the
pinch as exports tumble, but China
may offer a ray of hope
falling 25.2 per cent to 6.9 mill
m3, and exports to the US which
dropped 27 per cent in total, including
a 31.2 per cent fall in with
lucrative sawn timber volumes.
While the log market is currently
in the doldrums, the New
Zealand Forest Industries Council
is optimistic that NZ radiata
pine will be approved for building
uses in China by June next
year. Normally amending Chinese
building codes would be expected
to take years but the Chinese and
NZ governments are in negotiations
over a free trade agreement
(China’s first with an OECD
country) and China has agreed to
fast-track the necessary changes.
Exactly how NZ producers
will tackle the Chinese market has
yet to be determined. Although
exports of sawn lumber, other finished
wood products and even kit
set houses are possible, it may be
the case that Chinese customers
want to import only logs and keep
processing in China.
The Council has called an industry
meeting in November to
try and work out a strategy for the
Chinese market. Its first hurdle,
however, will be overcoming
radiata pine’s poor image as a
structural timber in China.
While the potential of the
Chinese market is huge, forest
owners have addressed the immediate
problem by reducing cuttings
considerably and many have written
down the value of forestry assets.
Carter Holt, NZ’s largest forest
owner, recently reduced the
book value of its forests from
NZ$2.9 to $2 bill and there is
growing speculation it will sell a
major part of its forestry holdings
in the next month.
Consolidation
Whatever form it takes, further
consolidation of forests and sawmills
is likely. Norske Skog has al-
A typical ISO operation - laminated
veneer lumber being loaded with slings
suspended from spreader bar
ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF/FOREST PRODUCTS
ready announced it will close one
of three paper machines at the
Tasman Mill in NZ by 2006 and
upgrade the paper machine and
install a calendaring machine at its
Albury facility in Australia. Norske
Skog currently ships 180,000
tonnes of paper annually from NZ
to Australia and moving more production
to Albury will cut this figure
by 50,000 tonnes.
The weak market for logs is
also putting pressure on ports as
forest owners look for extended
storage periods as they try to find
both markets and charter vessels.
At Port Chalmers, local bye-laws
prohibiting a third shift at the forest
product berth have made it
difficult for local producer Wenita
Forest Products to attract a regular
service to the Korean market.
A third shift was operated earlier
in the year as a test while noise
levels were monitored, but the issue
has still not been resolved.
In north island, high inventories
at ports are causing friction
between exporters and some port
companies as storage charges become
and issue. Wrightson Forestry
Services’ export manager
Phil Melhopt recently accused the
ports of Tauranga and Northport
failing to recognise the plight of
exporters with “kick you when
you’re down” penalty storage fees.
Port executives were quick to
respond that they are not in the
business of providing long-term
storage on expensive reclaimed
land and penalty charges have always
applied after six weeks.
Marshalls, stevedores
In NZ the activities of log marshalling
and stevedoring are distinct
operations performed by
separate companies. Cut logs are
taken from the forestry site to one
or several inland sites or directly
to one of 10 ports where they are
“marshalled” – sorted into piles
according to size grade, destination
and vessel stowage plan, etc.
Importantly, it is at this stage that
most logs are bar-coded and entered
into IT systems. Vessel loading
is carried out by stevedoring
companies and is a much less capital-intensive
operation as logs are
loaded using ships cranes.
The largest log marshalling
company is Owens Cargo, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of the
Port of Tauranga, operating from
five inland sites and 10 ports. Marshalling
is where most of the heavy
handling equipment is required
and Owens runs a mix of Wagner
log handlers and Caterpillar,
Komatsu, Volvo and Liebherr pivot
steer loaders. The Wagner machines
are built in the US in Portland,
Oregon by Allied Systems
Company and Owens is the Australasian
sales and service agent.
CRP Azipod
“cuts costs”
ABB Marine Oy in Finland
reports that the first ships in
the world fitted with its CRP
Azipod propulsion are using 20
per cent less fuel despite being
faster and having 15 per cent
more transport capacity than
the vessels they replaced.
In June, Japan’s Shin
Nihonkai Ferry Co Ltd (SNF)
took delivery of the two CRP
Azipod fast ferries, AKASHIA and
HAMANASU, from Mitsu-bishi’s
Nagasaki yard, for the 1061 km
(573 n/m) Maiduru-Otaru
route between Honshu and
Hokkaido islands.
The 224.5m long, 17,000
grt passenger/ro-ro ferries
have a service speed of 30.5
knots. The trip to Otaru takes
20 hours and the trip back 21
hours, while (un)loading time
is four hours in Maiduru and
three hours in Otaru.
Two older fast ferries operated
by SNF on this route,
SUZURAN and SUISEN, are fitted
with conventional, dieselpowered
twin shafts. Their
service speed is 29.4 knots and
the schedules were about the
same (24 hours).
This means that direct
comparisons can be made and
the early results for the CRP
Azipod drive seem to vindicate
SNF’s decision. Operating
costs of the new ships are
expected to reduce further in
the near future. ❏
44
September 2004