Two Canadian sawmills have closed permanently in the wake of a severe housing slump in the US.
International Forest Products is shuttingits Queensboro sawmill in New Westminster, British Columbia and selling the land. The mill is one of only two modern sawmills on the British Columbia coast designed to manufacture lumber from the coast’s growing supply of second-growth timber. It closed indefinitely in June 2007 and has never reopened.
The mill was rebuilt in 2005 at a cost of C$25m to serve the US housing market. However, it was closed indefinitely in 2007, laying off 110 workers. Costs at the Queensboro mill are reported to have consumed C$1.7m in the first quarter of 2008.
Meanwhile, Weyerhaeuser Co plans to close its idled Structurwood mill in Alberta, Canada. The OSB mill was originally shut in December 2007. At the time the mill was idled, it employed about 130 people, some of whom have moved to other Weyerhaeuser operations. Others have received severance, the company said.
Weyerhaeuser’s dimensional softwood lumber sawmill in Drayton Valley continues to operate.
“Weyerhaeuser is working with the government of Alberta to find ways to enhance the viability of our remaining mills in the region, both the sawmill in Drayton Valley and the Structurwood mill in Edson,” said Phil Dennett, vice-president, Strand Technologies for Weyerhaeuser. “We are hopeful those discussions will result in long-term fibre security not only for those facilities but for other forest-related opportunities in the region.”
