The survivability of Canadian short-line railroads is approaching a critical junction, says an independent rail expert. The struggles of northeastern Ontario’s Huron Central Railway should be a “canary-in-the-coal-mine” warning that government needs to support small railroaders in the same manner that it subsidizes other modes of transportation, said Greg Gormick, an Oshawa-based consultant. Short-line railroads…
Despite not being surprised by the preliminary softwood lumber tariffs imposed by the U.S. last week, EACOM Timber Corporation’s president and chief executive officer Kevin Edgson is not any less concerned. Edgson sat down with me outside the main room at the Ontario Natural Resources Forum in downtown Toronto; two days after President Trump made…
It’s one of B.C.’s deep-rooted money makers, but there’re some big concerns about the future of the softwood lumber industry. The United States’ plan to implement a tariff on Canadian exporters, the bulk of which are in B.C., is just one blow to the already bruised sector. B.C.’s logging associations are meeting in Vernon to…
Canadian governments and industry are reviving the oldest fuel — wood — for a natural gas substitute billed as contributing to commitments to make the country a moral leader in arresting global climate change. New-age environmental language drops the old four-letter word. Enter “lignocellulosic biomass,” formerly known as wood waste, as the raw material for…
A B.C. company plans to start construction this summer on an $85-million plant in Parkland County that will produce wood pellets as a greener form of fuel. Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. intends to build the facility near the CN Rail line outside Entwistle, 100 kilometres west of Edmonton, according to a news release. It will be the…
Montreal-based Stella-Jones posted Thursday a decline in profit and revenue for the first quarter. The company generated a quarterly profit of $25.9 million or 37 cents per share, compared to $35 million or 51 cents per share at the same time last year. Its revenues declined from $421 million a year ago to $396.9 million this…
When President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Canada’s softwood lumber industry last week, he ignited a trade dispute that was a long time coming. And his actions could impact the local economy far beyond whether our mills or theirs prevail in a disagreement that has spanned decades and may be decided by the World Trade…
White River’s lumber mill will likely get hit hard by U.S. duties on Canadian softwood, but the industry veteran in charge of the plant believes it will come through the crisis. “It’s the same old battle (with the U.S.), but we will survive,” White River Forest Products CEO Frank Dottori declared in an interview Tuesday….
JDI thanks the hundreds of NB private wood producers and woodlot owners who made the 2016- 2017 operating year a record breaking season. JDI mills bought over 860,000 cubic meters of wood, worth over $40 million, from NB private woodlots. This volume is roughly 23,000 tractor trailer loads of wood and is significantly higher than…
A week after President Donald Trump vowed to impose new tariffs on Canadian lumber imports to help the U.S. timber industry, lawmakers passed a spending bill that could push U.S. government agencies to promote burning wood pellets to fuel power plants. The budget bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed on Wednesday, which makes…