Forest Industry News

The economic impact of China's coronavirus lockdown is being felt across the globe, with exporters, miners and manufacturers of everything from coal and timber to meat and fruit facing delays and potential shipment cancellations.As the most populous nation and factory floor for most of the world's manufactured goods, China is normally the largest and most voracious consumer of a slew of global raw materials, fuels and foods.But the combination of an extended Lunar New Year holiday…

Two Swedish shipping companies - Wallenius and Swedish Orient Line (SOL) - have formed a shipowning joint venture that will sail from ports in Sweden and Finland.The company has five ships so far and plans to order four LNG-powered newbuilds to operate ice-class vessels for the forestry product trades in the Gulf of Bothnia and Baltic Sea area.The new Nordic joint venture, named WALLENIUS SOL,  is to strengthen the infrastructure for the needs of Finnish and Swedish industry. The first customers to sign long-term agreements are Stora Enso and Metsä Board.”Together we can offer a strong mix of experience and competence, which can support a growing forest industry”…

Swedish shipping company Swedish Orient Lines (SOL) announced  that it will add the port of Pietarsaari/Jakobstad (Finland) to its liner network with one weekly call using its vessels Thuleland and Tundraland.The service will offer direct port calls to Lübeck (Germany), Zeebrugge (Belgium) and Tilbury (UK). With its new route SOL supports BillerudKorsnäs export of paper products from its mill in Pietarsaari as well as other import and export cargo to the region.BillerudKorsnäs focuses on offering the packaging market sustainable materials and solutions that increase customers’ profitability while at the same time improving the overall environmental impact“From the beginning of January next year SOL offers a weekly RoRo service between Pietarsaari/Jakobstad…

Finnish dry bulker ESL ShippingLtd, a shipping company fully owned by Aspo Group, is going to acquire all the outstanding shares of AtoB@C Shipping AB and AtoB@C Holding AB (AtoB@C) that offer shipping services. The enterprise value is EUR 30 million. The final purchase price will be mainly financed by Aspo's existing financing reserves, and approximately EUR 4.2 million will be covered by new shares issued by Aspo Plc. The transaction will require the competition authority's approval in Finland to be completed. It is estimated that the transaction will be completed in the third quarter of 2018. AtoB@C is engaged in the shipping business with 30 vessels in size of 4,000-5,000 tonnes. AtoB@C owns six dry cargo vessels in full, and it has a share of 49% of two vessels.

The second Bloem Doze Nienhuis short sea study shows a cargo demand of around 1.8 billion tons between 2005 and 2012. In the same period the supply of the short sea fleet increases by 20%, from 38-47 million tons dwt. In 2005, the short sea industry witnessed a reasonable level of profitability. With an annual growth of demand by 4% and a stable fleet size, the market will reach a new balance only in 2020. The first Bloem Doze Nienhuis study signalled strongly volatile freight rates, mainly caused by a fragmented supply of tonnage. Mergers, joint-ventures and pooling agreements were suggested to improve utilization rates of vessels, as were as a better use of economies of scale. During 2012 and the first half of 2013 freight rates reached new all-time lows.

The contract for a new double-ended ferry that will operate on the Upper Arrow Lake in British Columbia, Canada, has been awarded to Waterbridge Steel Inc. As of 2014, the new vessel is to replace two ferries built in the 1960's which are equipped with Voith Schneider Propellers (VSP). The vessels' Voith Schneider propulsion systems have proven their worth under the specific application conditions and were therefore again chosen as propulsion system for the new ferry. Since 1968…

Wärtsilä’s focus on compliance is strengthened with a new Compliance Function and Ms Sari Kolu has been appointed Director, Compliance. In this role, she will be responsible for globally developing, managing and reviewing group level policies and practices within Wärtsilä to promote and assure compliance with all applicable laws and the principles of good corporate citizenship. Prior to joining Wärtsilä Ms Kolu has held several managerial positions within the forest industry and telecom electronics companies. Kolu is Master of Laws and Executive MBA by education.

•    Operating result for Harbour Towage increases, partly because of the extended interest in URS. •    Commencement of new contracts leads to growth Terminals. •    Result Salvage exceeds historical average. •    Considerable increase result Transport. •    Strongly improved result Heavy Lift in second half of the year. •    Net profit increases from EUR 105.6 million to EUR 107.8 million. •    Operating result increases 19% from EUR 94.7 million to EUR 112.5 million. •    EBITDA (including associated companies) rises 26% from EUR 159.4 million to EUR 201.0 million. •    Net profit per share decreases 9% from EUR 6.68 to EUR 6.11, owing to the issuing of shares. •    Proposed dividend per share remains EUR 3.00.

A tug tows a loaded coal barge down the Mahakam River past the city of Samarinda. Passing the town of Samarinda, just above the deltas and about 30 kilometers up river from the sea, a steady parade of tugs towing barges are moving thousands of tons of coal from several large mines further up the river. Some of these tow barge loads of coal to neighboring Southeast Asian nations while others take to coal barges out of the river and alongside deep-sea vessels for transport to more distant markets. Mr.

To many westerners the names Borneo and Sarawak conjure up images of jungle rivers and dugout canoes. While the jungle rivers remain, the dug out canoes have largely been replaced by modern steel ferries and tugs. The Malaysian province of Sarawak has gained considerable affluence over the past half century from its strong forest industry, but as is the case throughout much of the world, this is now in decline. But the forest industry created a maritime legacy in the many small shipyards that developed to build work boats for moving the logs and lumber to market. The skills and resources built up during the boom times in the forest industry have funded a number of newer shipyards and provided updated equipment to established yards.

As in the case of the Finnfighter, which has already been delivered, the Finnpine is one of a series of vessels specially designed for the transportation of forest industry products. The series will form the base for a new system service between Europe and North America and will also have capacity for containers and rolling cargoes. The efficient cargo-handling system and design ensure rapid, high-quality loading and unloading. The vessel's speed capability and seagoing characteristics will reduce delivery times. This type of vessel has the highest ice classification, which means that ports in the Gulf of Bothnia can be served during the winter season. "The delivery of the MS Finnpine is another milestone for B&N," says the President, Folke Patriksson.

Finnlines Plc has bought Transfennica Ltd. from its present shareholders UPM-Kymmene Corporation (49.9 % holding), Metsä-Serla Corporation (32.7 %), Myllykoski Paper Oy (9 %) and Oy Metsä-Botnia Ab (8.4 %). At the same time Finnlines together with its subsidiaries made long-term co-operation agreements on the transportation of Transfennica’s owners products from Finland to the rest of Europe. The value of the transportation agreements together with the free of debt value of the shares of Transfennica has been agreed to be some $68 million. Transfennica is a shipping company specialized in forest industry products. The company operates a fleet of over 20 modern RoRo vessels. Last year’s (1999) turnover was $187 million.

Things have been quiet at Chuck's Boat and Drive Company in Longview, Wash., since the forest industry slowed to a crawl a decade ago. But now the company's largest order ever has emerged from an unlikely direction. In the U.S., the increased attention to port security in the past year has led to the installation of floating booms, known as Port Security Barriers (PSB), around key naval docks. When U.S. military officials went looking for a mini-tug that had the power and mobility to open and close these booms, they were pointed in the direction of a company that represents decades of experience in perfecting rugged boats to move big heavy west coast logs around in booming grounds.

Finnlines said it had bought forest industry group Stora Enso's 16.6 percent stake in shipping company Transfennica for an undisclosed sum. Finnlines said it and its subsidiaries at the same time had made a long-term cooperation agreement with Stora Enso on the transportation of its paper products from Finland to the rest of Europe. Transfennica is a shipping company owned by the Finnish paper industry and operates some 20 RoRo vessels, it said.

Finnlines said it had bought forest industry group Stora Enso's 16.6 percent stake in shipping company Transfennica for an undisclosed sum. Finnlines said it and its subsidiaries at the same time had made a long-term cooperation agreement with Stora Enso on the transportation of its paper products from Finland to the rest of Europe. Transfennica is a shipping company owned by the Finnish paper industry and operates some 20 RoRo vessels, it said.

Things have been quiet at Chuck’s Boat and Drive Company in Longview Washington since the forest industry slowed to a crawl a decade ago. But now the company’s largest order ever has emerged from an unlikely direction. In the U.S., the increased attention to port security in the past year has led to the installation of floating booms, known as Port Security Barriers (PSB), around key naval docks. When US military officials went looking for a mini-tug that had the power and mobility to open and close these booms, they were pointed in the direction of a company that represents decades of experience in perfecting rugged boats to move big heavy west coast logs around in booming grounds.