Eurocan Closing - A Blow To The Entire North
By Ben Meisner
It is the most severe blow that the City of Kitimat could have ever received.
535 people will get their walking papers at the end of January, and Eurocan Pulp will cease to exist in that city.
Eurocan is the second largest industrial contributor of taxes to the city, and with that payroll is a very important part of the well being of that community.
It is a blow that Kitimat will have a hard time surviving.
What has caused it? Several things, first, there is an ever increasing competition for pulp and paper from third world countries who can produce the product much cheaper than we can in Canada. That will continue to be an ongoing problem in the industry and it is a problem that the three mills in Prince George face.
Eurocan was not getting sufficient chips to enable it to operate efficiently, bearing in mind that the Port of Prince Rupert has been the area from which a lot of raw, round logs, are being exported . There are ships full of product heading out of the country to be milled overseas and there is little that either Eurocan, the Province or for that matter the federal government could do about it. The logs are, for the most part, being exported by First Nations in the area. They are coming from private land handed over by the Province in lands claims. The Province has no say in where these logs go.
In the past, mills operating in the Terrace area were supplying the company with chips, the only chips being received by Eurocan in recent months have been full sized raw logs. You cannot compete trying to operate in this manner.
While Terrace has been gradually poaching people and business away from Kitimat, the closing of the mill will deal a blow to both communities.
The claim that the recession is all but over are hollow words indeed when it comes to the reality of what is happening around us. The problem is however that municipalities such as Prince George seem to be having a hard time getting their minds around what really is happening in the community
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion
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Posted by: Eagleone on October 29 2009 10:33 AM
That will have 2 strong effects on our economy, 1st it makes it more viable for local mills to shut down because there is now a bigger supply area to draw from, and 2nd it means less local loggers will be working this winter.
This area has more bettle kill wood than it can handle, but we will now be leaving more of it stand.
A great example of this is Dunkley Lumber, one of the few indipendant mills left. They brought in over 5000 loads of bettle kill timber this summer and fall to supply Canfor in PG. Last month they got word that they would no longer be shipping chips to Prince George this winter. They have a huge supply of logs on the ground with no other use. 2nd byproduct? As soon as they got word the announced a 2 week closure to all bug wood, opened for 2 weeks, then closed the mill to all wood for atleast one month. On top of that they have told all contractors no bug kill for the rest of the winter, what you have now you have to sit on and hope for the best.
This closure will effect the entire north.