Canfor Boss Confirms Saving Of Tackama, No Promises For Others

Monday, February 25, 2008 08:29 AM

Prince George, B.C. - During the conference call for the fourth quarter , Canfor CEO James Shepard announced the Tackama Plywood plant in Ft. Nelson will not face indefinite closure as had first been announced in January. "SInce that time, we have been working very hard with the United Steelworkers, the employees, contractors and the province to build a business case." Shepard says the contractors returned to the bush on the weekend and the mill will not face closure in the summer as had initially been planned.

As Opinion 250 first reported Sunday, February 17th ( see previous story) the salary and wage rollbacks are 10%, and the province made some policy changes including setting the point of appraisal in Ft St. John. The moves, along with agreements with the Province on licence, combined to save about $5 million dollars for the operations of the plant.

Shepard added Canfor will not hesitate to take further action at facilties should conditions warrant it.

When asked by one of the investment company reps why it seems to take Canfor so long to make the cutbacks necessary to save dollars, Shepard said the actions are being taken as quickly as possible, but there needs to be some consultation with the communities "The impact on these communities is profound" says Shepard.

He also remarked the current market conditions are unlike anything he has ever seen. "The market is dropping faster than our ability to bring our costs down. I've never seen anything like it, we're dealing with a tsunami, really."

Shepard says Canfor has taken a significant hit over the past year saying if you compared the start of this year to the same period last year, there has been a 25% cut in production and jobs. He can't say if the worst is over "the changes area reflective of the market, I can't make predictions because the market is still a moving target." He says any further cuts would be done "On a situational basis."

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Posted on Monday, February 25, 2008 08:29 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 25 2008 11:09 AM

There you go...Shepard just told us something.
Run Tackama and shut something else down.
It doesn't matter where the cost cutting numbers come from,it's all in the same bag when you count the money.
Wait for the other shoe to drop,and it will!
This is Jimmy's world now,and he carries a pretty big stick!

Posted by: realitysetsin on February 25 2008 12:07 PM

Canfor sustained a HUGE loss last quarter. That isn't sustainable.

Blame it on Jimmy, blame it on the big bad company, blame it on whatever.

Fact remains the market is oversupplied.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 25 2008 12:15 PM

"fact remains the market is over supplied"
Exactly realitysetsin,and until something happens there,nothing will get any better.

Posted by: detoe43 on February 25 2008 1:34 PM

Part of the problem is
there is no way to ship the product. A
number of mills in the area are having issues getting rail cars. L&M in Vanderhoof is down to a 3 day week because their inventory is piling up, Lakeland has had an ongoing problem with access to rail cars. There is still a market for lumber out there, it's that some companies have over extended themselves,acquiring too much
too fast, also the problems facing the US
are about to get worse. All Canadians in all sectors had better brace themselves for
what is coming, a wholescale meltdown of the US economy.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on February 25 2008 1:55 PM

Amen to that detoe43!!
:-(

Posted by: gitterdun on February 25 2008 10:22 PM

WHO DO YOU THINK OVERSUPPLIED THE MARKET??

Posted by: realitysetsin on February 26 2008 8:35 AM

13 billion board feet of consumption went away.

13 b-i-l-l-i-o-n board feet. That is like 52 mills the size of Dunkley that would need to go away.