Lumbering in: First European wood products reach Port

Canadian forest products arrive by water, too

Forest products aboard vessels used to be a common sight on the Duluth-Superior waterfront. For 60 years they were a major Port commodity.

The Menominee and some of her European lumber.

That was from the early 1880s to the late 1930s — and the cargoes of logs and lumber were all outbound.

Which explains why it may have been a surprise in some quarters when a Minnesota company took delivery of the Port of Duluth-Superior's first inbound cargo of European lumber in November.

About five million board feet manufactured in Germany arrived aboard theAntigua-flagged Lia for distribution to Upper Midwest outlets by Lakes States Lumber, based in nearby Aitkin, Minn.

Mind you that lumber still comes in from Canada, just as it has for years, usually by rail and only rarely by water. Seeing it arrive via ocean vessel may take some getting used to.

The Radium Yellow Knife maneuvers barges of Canadian lumber into the Port.

"It might be difficult for some people to imagine how European lumber can compete with domestic production, especially here on the edge of the North Woods," said Duluth Port Director Davis Helberg.

"But Minnesota and neighboring states have imported lumber to meet regional demand for many years," Mr. Helberg said. "The difference is that, historically, the imports have come mostly by rail from Canada — and haven't had the high visibility of ship traffic."

"This lumber complements domestic production and helps meet regional demands," said Jerry Lipovetz, sales manager for Lake States. "We continue to buy from our existing sources throughout North America."

"The lumber is produced by Klausner Holz Thuringen of Friesau, Germany, from timber harvested from certified sustainable forests, where less timber is harvested than grown," said Mr. Lipovetz.

A second shipment of nearly six million board feet arrived aboard the Norwegian-flagged Menominee later the same month. Clure Public Marine Terminal operator Lake Superior Warehousing Co., Inc., which unloaded the lumber, hopes to see additional shipments in 2002.

Lake States Lumber had been importing lumber for the past two years through Lake Michigan ports. The company operates a sales office in Superior and distribution centers in Aitkin and Brooklyn Park, Minn., and Wausau and Sparta,Wis. The lumber was sold in the U.S. by New South International of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Another exception to the rail imports of Canadian lumber was 100,000 tons-plus of lumber delivered by barge from Thunder Bay to Superior’s Hallett Dock No. 8.

Through most of the 2001 season, Canadian lumber arrived via the tug Radium Yellowknife and a rotation of three barges. At any given time, three barges were being loaded in Thunder Bay, three were being unloaded at the Hallett facility and three were in transit.

Then, at the end of the interlake navigation season, the shipper, Buchanan Forest Products of Thunder Bay, took advantage of a virtually ice-free Lake Superior and converted to a larger tug, the W.N. Twolan, and a 343-foot, 7,000-ton barge, the McAllister 132.

Wayne Brandt, executive vice president of Minnesota Forest Industries, faults neither the importers nor the Port for responding to the demand for lumber. “They’re not the bad guys,” he said when questioned by the Duluth News-Tribune about the shipments.

Brandt attributed the problem to U.S. lumber harvest restrictions. “It’s a sad day when people are forced to import wood at the same time we’ve seen sawmills in the region closing.”

Mr. Helberg agrees that local timber producers and lumber manufacturers operate under heavy restrictions, but says Port officials “can hardly be expected to suggest regional importers should seek alternate routes of entry. Every ton of cargo across our docks — inbound or outbound — generates local and regional jobs and revenues plus inland transportation services.

“We don’t import anything ourselves,” he said. “If a regional company makes an economic decision to buy from a foreign supplier, our job is to do what we can to attract that cargo to a local facility.”