Sawmill Shut Downs

[TimberFaller660]

how many sawmills have shutdown in your area?
only one of four has completley shut down, 2 have cut back back to 4 days a week, and the other has a diminsion shop and a kiln thats keeping them afloat.

 

[RRSsawshop]

We have 2 shut down,but they are small outfits. Oddly we have one mill going GANGBUSTERS I've never seen so many logs at this mill in my life!!! There secret?? They only cut ASH!! So there days are numbered too with EAB getting closer. :monkey:

 

[tomtrees58]

thers 2 out east here think ther in biz still tom trees

 

[dingeryote]

Three that I know of from yakking with long time buddy on the business side of the industry.

"Nearby" would be relative though.

Our local 1-2 man mills are dead untill things pick up again, and selling firewood.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Humptulips]

Grays Harbor is just being turned into a basket case. WEYCO closed their pulp mill in Cosmopolis permanently a couple years ago then their large log mill and just recently their small log mill. Now they are closing their yard and export docks. The last log ship to be loaded at Grays Habor left last week. All of these are permanent closures. Then there has been Hoquiam plywood shut down and another truss mill shut down by WEYCO. Tough times!

 

[Gologit]

Mills at Sonora, Camino, and Quincy are going into shutdown. The closings are called "indefinite". If the lumber market picks up they might re-open. Or not.

If you want a good idea of how bad things really are, Google "Random Lengths"...it's an industry newsletter and has a good listing of all recent shutdowns, curtailments, and permanent closings. Grim reading.

 

[windthrown]

Its pretty dismal here. A bloodbath really. Outside of Portland, I think the unemployment rate in Oregone is now up to 20%. Statewide it is over 12% now.

Banks Mill in Banks, OR shut down back in October I think it was (yard is open, but the mill was shut).
The Boise Cascade mill in White City, OR is shut down.
Weyerhaeuser is closing its log export facility in Aberdeen, WA and it shut its saw log and veneer mills there as well.
Weyerhaeuser closed its Dallas, OR mill permanently.
Weyerhaeuser has announced layoffs and reduced shifts and hours at its Warrenton, OR, Raymond WA and Longview, WA sawmills.
Weyerhaeuser's sawmill in Cottage Grove, OR has had staggared week shutdowns.
Hampton Affiliates is shutting its mill down in Tillamook, OR in June (indefinately).
Hampton has also had staggared week shutdown weeks at the mill in Willamina, OR, as well has permanently reduced output there.
Guy Bennett Lumber is shutting down its sawmill in Clarkston, WA (indefinately).
Swanson's stud mill in Roseburg, OR has had staggared week shutdowns.
Vaagen Bros. in Colville, WA has had cutbacks in shifts and staggared week shutdowns.
The Bright Wood mill in Madras, OR had a big layoff and roll-back on hours.
The big mill in Sutherlin, OR burned down a few years ago and was never rebuilt.
The Pope & Talbot pulp mill in Halsey, OR was shut down last year (bankruptcy).
High Cascade/WKO shut down its sawmill in Carson, WA (indefinately).
Mount Hood Forest Products shut its sawmill in Hood River, OR (indefinately).
In Coos Bay, OR there are 3 saw mills shut down, and one pulp mill that I know of. The Southport mill in Coos Bay, OR is down to one shift.
I think that the Vanpoint mill in Boring, OR has been closed all winter.
The Prairie Wood mill in Prairie City, OR shut down in October.
Stimson mill in Arden, WA has been on a skelleton crew since October.
Georgia-Pacific cut back to one shift at Philomath, OR.

There are others, I am sure. It is hard to keep up.

Of interest:

Last month, the Western Wood Products Association predicted lumber demand would hit a historic low this year and start a slow recovery next year. The Portland-based group estimated that demand would fall to just 28.9 billion board feet this year — a 30 percent decline from 2008 and a 55 percent decline from 2005, when the industry reached an all-time high of 64.3 billion board feet.

 

[slowp]

2 out of the 3 are going. The one not going plans to start up in August. But rumor has it with only one shift. It had the roof cave in from snow last winter. Then there's one that makes cedar fencing. They are going. The mill here is going but I don't see many log trucks going by. They buy hemlock.

Rumors abound.

 

[Ontario_Logger]

they shut down 3 tembec mills up around the northern ontario region, the one in Huntsville just cut back alot, tembec is temsikamge I've heard rumor's is was going to shut down and Columbia in rutherglean is down to one shift

 

[PB]

We have 2 shut down,but they are small outfits. Oddly we have one mill going GANGBUSTERS I've never seen so many logs at this mill in my life!!! There secret?? They only cut ASH!! So there days are numbered too with EAB getting closer. :monkey:

EAB has only been found in transported nursery/firewood stock from Michigan near Pittsburgh. Hopefully it will stay clear of PA.

As for the mills? Paper mill here opened up after being shutdown for 2 years, but another shut down up the river. I think things are turning around. Stay positive.

 

[mercer_me]

There is alot of sawmils closing around here but there are even more paper mills closing.

 

[Cletuspsc]

We had 2 or 3 sizable outfits close recently (with in the last year or so). Greene lumber, berlin lumber and W.J.Cowee are out and I was told bannish might be goin out but i dont know how factual that is.

The mill I cut for has been doin OK but they have scaled back to 3 days a week at the hard wood mill and 4 days aweek every other week at the pine mill. No logging goin on though, just buying standing wood as cheep as possible and sitting on it till the prices go back up.