by CanadianSailings | Jun 23, 2014 | Corporate events & profiles, Other
Roger Carré, General Manager of Termont Montréal Inc. has chosen to take his well-deserved retirement as of November 14, 2014, after a career of over 40 years in the industry.
Mr. Carré started with Termont at its inception in 1987 as Manager and was a key instigator of its development into the first-class terminal it is today. He also serves on the Board of the Maritime Employers Association and was a member of the contract advisory committee for several years. A graduate of the Institut maritime du Québec in Rimouski, Mr. Carré sailed for a few years before taking on a career in the stevedoring industry in 1971 at Halterm and Ceres in Halifax before his employment at Termont.
To succeed Roger, the company has appointed Julien Dubreuil, to the position of General Manager. Mr. Dubreuil will assume the responsibilities as of July 1 and will work closely with Mr. Carré for the remainder of 2014. An MBA graduate from the Université du Québec à Montréal, he joined Termont in 2006 as Vessel Superintendent. He was promoted to the position of Project Manager in 2009 to manage improvement projects at the terminal.
by CanadianSailings | Jun 23, 2014 | Business and Economy, Corporate events & profiles, Other
Los Angeles-based Rentech, Inc. announced that it has acquired New England Wood Pellet (NEWP), the largest producer of wood pellets for the U.S. heating market.
NEWP, established in 1992, operates three wood pellet facilities with a combined annual production capacity of 240,000 tonnes. The facilities are located in Jaffrey (NH), Schuyler (NY) and Deposit (NY) in the largest domestic market for consumption of wood pellets for heating. NEWP generated EBITDA of approximately $7.4 million in 2013.
“NEWP is the leader in the growing U.S. market for wood pellets used in heating applications. The acquisition brings additional cash flows and profitability to our wood fibre business. In addition, NEWP’s business broadens our product offerings, customer base and geographic markets,” said D. Hunt Ramsbottom, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rentech.
Rentech owns two pellet plants currently under construction in northern Ontario. The Atikokan plant, with a projected annual capacity of 125,000 tonnes, and the Wawa plant, with an annual design capacity of over 400,000 tonnes.
by CanadianSailings | Jun 23, 2014 | Bruce Striegler, Business and Economy, Corporate events & profiles, Other, Rail, Supply Chain and Logistics
By R. Bruce Striegler
The staggering North American growth in wood pellet production, due to exports to Europe, has opened significant opportunities for Canadian rail companies. With 42 plants producing three million tonnes in 2012, Canadian production and export has exploded from 1.9 million tonnes in 2011. Explaining the Canadian market, Uri Szyk, CN’s Market Manager for wood pellets and wood chips, says the supply chain in Western Canada is more mature than that in Eastern Canada, even while the west continues to develop. “We’re seeing expanded export terminal capacity with Pinnacle’s new Westview Terminal in Prince Rupert”, he says, noting that British Columbia accounts for 65 percent of Canadian capacity and production.
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by CanadianSailings | Jun 23, 2014 | Bruce Striegler, Business and Economy, Ocean, Ocean Carriers, Other, Supply Chain and Logistics
By R. Bruce Striegler
The theme that emerged from the Wood Pellet Association of Canada’s (WPAC) November 2013 conference and annual meeting in Vancouver was that the future of the industry looks strong, but will require sustainable fibre supply to remain viable and to continue its current extraordinary growth. WPAC Executive Director, Gord Murray, who has long advocated the creation of a long-term plan for sustainable fibre resources in B.C., said during his opening presentation, “We must establish fibre security for the wood pellet sector in this province, and that will be the number one priority of WPAC in the upcoming year.” Earlier in 2013, WPAC released a position paper outlining the historical growth and significance of B.C.’s wood pellet sector, detailing the changes needed to B.C.’s fibre allocation, if the sector is to remain competitive. The paper points out that the province’s “hands-off approach” to bioenergy fibre supply has hindered investment in pellet capacity, sending that investment to the southeast U.S. instead.
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by CanadianSailings | Jun 23, 2014 | Business and Economy, Gateways and Corridors, Keith Norbury, Other
By Keith Norbury
A decade after the mountain pine beetle devastated the interior forests of B.C., the most accessible of that dead wood has already been turned into marketable lumber. The industry has reached a turning point just as the U.S. housing market is stirring from its Great Recession slumber, and demand from emerging lumber markets remain solid, according to industry insiders. A looming fibre shortage has implications not just for construction-grade lumber producers in B.C., but for lumber producers across Canada and the rest of the world. “The industry is going down a path it hasn’t been down before,” said Mark Kennedy, a Calgary-based forest products analyst with CIBC World Markets Inc.
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