Squamish Terminals this week announced a deal with its suppliers that will guarantee seven-day-a-week offloading of wood pulp from CN Rail trains at the facility.
The agreement with Tembec, West Fraser, Canfor Pulp and Daishowa-Merubeni announced on Monday (Jan. 24) was made possible by a strong market forecast for wood pulp in 2011, Kim Stegeman, Squamish Terminals manager of marketing and administration, told The Chief.
The agreement is part of an effort to ensure supply-chain efficiency in the shipment of wood pulp from the B.C. interior, Stegeman said. While Squamish Terminals has handled seven-day-a-week shipments in the past, that schedule has been somewhat sporadic, she said.
Under the deal, wood-pulp suppliers will work with CN Rail and Squamish Terminals to manage inbound traffic flows with the schedule of outbound ships docked at the terminals.
"This agreement will allow us to better plan our transshipment of export pulp from rail to ocean-going vessel, including handling equipment and staffing required to operate the terminal," Ron Anderson, Squamish Terminals chief executive officer, said in a statement.
"A more efficient supply chain will further enhance our service level to our customers and generate important productivity gains."
Stegeman said that under the agreement, it's expected that Squamish Terminals will unload about 35 railcars per day.
"This will just help us facilitate better velocity of railcars and more consistent loading and unloading of railcars," she said.
The agreement covers only a 90-day trial period. If all goes well, it's hoped that a longer-term agreement will be secured, Stegeman said.
Stegeman said the community likely won't notice a change in the level of activity or rail-car shunting. However, she said Squamish Terminals employeees who number about 230 when the terminal is operating at peak capacity will benefit from more consistent working hours.
"Our volumes of wood pulp are increasing. This will just help even it out," she said.
Squamish Terminals has a workforce of about 90 full-time equivalent employees, with a regular complement of workers living in Squamish. Workers from the Lower Mainland come in to work there are ships in port, Stegeman said.
The agreement is not expected to affect the level of activity for other types of products at the terminals, she said.
"It's important to know that our volumes of pulp coming through our terminals are increasing. Two-thousand eleven is forecast to be a very strong year and that's a good thing for business at the termimal," Stegeman said.
"As I'm sure you can imagine, with any supply chain, it helps to have an agreement with suppliers on how things should work."
