Eastland Port achieved record log tonnage throughput in January, reaching 178,197 tonnes. It’s an increase of 45 percent compared to last January when it reached 96,579 tonnes.
Port General Manager Andrew Gaddum says it was the busiest January for wood export since Eastland Port was created in 2003.
“January can traditionally be a low volume month because of the Christmas and holiday breaks when forest operation stops, but this January’s throughput nearly doubled that of January 2016.
Nine log vessels took away 178,197 tonnes of wood; three vessels departed with 4012 tonnes of squash; and three cruise ships arrived and left with just over 3000 people.
Eastland Port’s busiest months for log throughput are March and April, and September and October. In 2016, 2.3 million tonnes of logs were exported and this is expected to rise to 2.5 million tonnes for 2017.
Mr Gaddum says the port continues to grow side-by-side with the forestry industry and manage the huge volume of logs coming to the port.
“While Eastland Port will be able to handle the 2.5m tonnes of wood predicted for this year, projections show the port will need to be able to handle 4 million tonnes over the next ten years.
Mr Gaddum says work is already underway to unlock the port’s potential to manage the predicted wood volume so it can continue to support an industry that by 2020 could see one in 10 people earning a living from the sector.
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