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Canfor’s Fort Nelson plywood plant closing Print E-mail
Written by GORDON HOEKSTRA
Citizen staff   
Wednesday, 08 October 2008

Canfor’s remaining plywood plant will close at the end of October putting 290 workers off the job in Fort Nelson.
Canfor made the announcement Wednesday afternoon, citing poor demand and low prices for plywood across North America. The company said the Tackama plant will be closed indefinitely once the existing log and veneer inventories are depleted. The company said the market conditions and future outlook are not encouraging, with no evidence of a turnaround in the near future.
“This difficult decision is in no way a reflection on the good efforts and performance of our employees at the Tackama site who have continued to make operational and cost improvements throughout these unprecedented and challenging market conditions, and we would like to thank them for their efforts,” said Canfor president Jim Shepard.
Canfor already decided not to rebuild its North Central Plywoods plant in Prince George, which was destroyed in a fire last spring, citing a declining wood basket in the area due to the mountain pine beetle epidemic. The company also said it wanted to invest the $80-million insurance payout in its other operations.
Lumber and panel prices have plummeted in the past 18 months as a result of collapse in the U.S. housing market. That housing collapse has been exacerbated by a mortgage crisis in the U.S., which has caused a negative spillover into Wall Street. The consensus among forest sector analysts is that 2009 will be another poor year, and that a turnaround should not be expected until 2010 at the earliest.
Fort Nelson has already been hit by closures, with Canfor shutting its oriented strand board plant earlier in the year, which caused a job loss of 235. The company had already reduced the workforce by 100 at the OSB plant and plywood plant earlier. The job losses are among thousands in northern B.C., including about 250 jobs lost at the North Central Plywoods plant.
“We’re extremely disappointed with the plant going down, we’ve done what we thought was a lot of work to make that a successful business,” said United Steelworkers local 1-424 president Frank Everitt, referring in part to an earlier 10 per cent wage concession. He said he’s concerned there’s little likelihood of the plant opening any time soon, particularly if there is no winter logging, the only window the plant has to fill its log yards locally. Everitt noted the closure history in the region has shown that indefinite does not mean just a few months. There are already indefinite sawmill closures in Chetwynd, Mackenzie and Prince George.
Comments (11)add
(B.C.) government has wants to recruit an estimated 30,000 workers annually,
written by Sojourn , October 09, 2008 (08:29:03 AM)
our B.C. govt officials were in Manila tuesday trying to recruit thousands of people to work in B.C.,

=======================
Dear Prince George MLA:

Is it a good time for this right now?



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Another mill down
written by north , October 09, 2008 (12:26:21 PM)
Another one of Canfor mills bit the dust In fort Nelson, and will never open again, sure strange the Plywood mill in Quesnel, and Williams Lake B.C. is still running, probably better Management.
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Just the start?
written by frankgeorgeson , October 09, 2008 (02:27:23 PM)
It is going to be a long winter.
Lumber price are in the basement and sales are almost as bad.
We will probably see another round of temp closures and short work weeks, I am thinking a lot worse than last winter.
The forest industry will probably not turn around before the summer of 2010 and possibly 2011.
Watch your spending and keep a warm den - the blizzard is going to howl.
Frank
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Other Plywood Plants...
written by Thoughtful , October 09, 2008 (08:21:44 PM)
Canfor has always been the first to shutter plants, and cut back production, all the while bragging about how much money they are making, and how the upcoming future will bring a super mill on site. It's time they look South to West Fraser's way of doing business, starting with Human Relations. Even the Plywood plant at Savona was looking for millwrights online. So there is still a market somewhere, but never say never, that's why I'm hoarding my pennies, I might need them,.. and the price of oil will be $50/barrel by the end of 2009, so Alberta's oil is not gonna be hiring either. Hmmm, dammed if you do, dammed if you don't...
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...
written by RUEZ , October 09, 2008 (09:32:05 PM)
Even if Oil were to drop to 50 a barrel there will still be plenty of jobs. In fact it wasn't many years ago that it was at 50 and there were plenty of jobs in the patch.
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written by maverick , October 09, 2008 (10:20:44 PM)
The days of spending 20-30 years at a job are effectiveley over, no one can afford to be complacent when it comes to what one does for a livelihood. There is more out there than a plywood plant or a sawmill.

Many companies are still on a hiring blitz here in AB. Many well servicing companies are interested in talking to people. If you have a valid drivers license and pass a D&A test, you could be working very soon making a good living. If your a journeyman tradesman, thats a bonus! Electricians, Heavy Duty Mechanics and Millwrights are sought after. There are still industrial developments carrying forward despite the rumored drop in oil (Murphy Oil Company, 30 km from Dawson Creek for example). Like Ed Stelmach said a couple days ago in response to the stock market slide having an impact on oil "The world needs oil and we got oil".

To wait 2 years for things to possibly turn around is a long time.


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written by RUEZ , October 09, 2008 (11:12:58 PM)
For all the beating Alberta takes over it's oil development. It's probably one of the few things people will be able to count on when times get tough. Saving the environment is a noble cause, but when you have no job the environment seems unimportant.
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written by allniter , October 10, 2008 (03:33:15 AM)
True enough in your post, Maverick, the jobs are plentiful in that area...finding a decent place to live is another matter. Rents are OUTRAGEOUSLY high, sapping a lot of the income you bring in, yet that is no guarantee that the place you get will reflect that high rent.
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allniter
written by maverick , October 10, 2008 (02:29:21 PM)
A big thing that happens when it comes to rent, if it's unaffordable, is getting a roommate or renting a multi bedroom house and the rent gets split. I would agree that rent is high, but the vacancy rate is now on the rise. With an increasing vacancy rate, the rent drops. In Grande Prairie, a 2 bedroom apartment 3 years ago was going for 1600/month...now it's under 900/month, with the first month free! That is a very sharp decrease. There used to be tent-towns here, that is no longer the case. Things have slowed down here, but is still busier than many parts of BC right now. Some research and a few phone calls go a long ways.
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Posted job for millwright
written by Thoughtful , October 10, 2008 (08:02:56 PM)
go to: http://www.workopolis.com/EN/job/10120239 .
Tolko is looking for a millwright at their plywood plant near Kamloops area, a 24/7 operation. Non CANFOR owned by the way.
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Tolko millwright job
written by Thoughtful , October 10, 2008 (08:10:24 PM)
looks to be in Heffley Creek, BC. Go to: http://www.tolko.jobs/ and click on current jobs, where they are hiring electricians, management, and production workers. Good luck.
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