The San Group is temporarily shutting down its large-log sawmill and value-added manufacturing plant in Port Alberni, affecting about 75 workers, due to a shortage of logs.
The company is seeking more supply in the hopes of resuming operations by early November, Kevin Somerville, company vice-president of operations, said Thursday.
San’s large-log sawmill closed Thursday after running out of logs on Wednesday, he said. “We are hoping to get back up on some supply coming in but it is probably going to be up and down for a little bit until we secure more logs on the longer term basis.”
San’s adjacent small-log saw mill has enough supply for one or two weeks and has been sourcing some logs on Vancouver Island.
The value-added plant, which relies on lumber from the sawmills, is shutting down on Monday for a minimum of two weeks. This facility turns out engineered cedar products using ultra-thin sheets of veneer.
“It’s going to be up and down on that fibre supply,” Somerville said. “If the logs are in front of the mill, we will run.”
San Group buys logs on the open market through timber sales and First Nations. Much of the company’s supply comes from northern Vancouver Island and the Central Coast, Somerville said.
But the fibre supply is “lean” at the moment and the San Group is looking at other opportunities, he said.
“We’ve got a few irons in the fire on the west coast, which we’re hopeful on because local supply would certainly be preferable from a distribution standpoint.”
In the past 18 months, all logs going through the large-log line originated from outside the Alberni Valley.
This is the first time the large-log line has been down this year because of lack of logs, Somerville said.
“We’ve had a pretty good run of it but we’re certainly up against it right now.”
The sawmills are directly tied to the company’s manufacturing plant in Port Alberni, which produces products for the retail market, he said.
“We sincerely regret having to take downtime at our facilities and apologize to our employees and customer base,” San Group’s chief executive Kamal Sanghera said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, lack of log supply has put us in a situation where we cannot continue to run efficiently on key product lines connected to our markets and customer demand.”
“We remain overly concerned about the long-term outlook for log supply and economic viability of operating in B.C.”
The company has about 250 employees in all on Vancouver Island and in Langley, where its headquarters are located.
The log shortage “is not going to help” San’s goal of paying off nearly $22 million owed to the province for stumpage fees by early 2025, Somerville said.
“We will continue to work with the Ministry of Finance on that.”
Liens went on the company’s Port Alberni sawmill lands as security this year.
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