PORT ANGELES — Logs from West End forests were lifted aboard a year-old freighter ship Monday in a three-day operation that will mark Port Angeles’ first log export operation in nearly a decade.
Eighteen longshoremen — mostly from Port Angeles — started a packed three-day schedule loading the 554-foot Koombana Bay.
When the freighter pulls out later this week, 2.2 million board feet of logs from the North Olympic Peninsula will fill up about half of the ship, said Paul Stutesman, vice president of log marketing for Merrill & Ring.
After a three-day berth in Port Angeles, the ship will head to Longview to be filled with logs before it heads out on a 15-day journey to South Korea, he said.
George Schoenfeldt, president of the Port of Port Angeles commissioners and former dispatcher for the Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union, recalled the last time a log ship stopped in Port Angeles.
“August 2000 — I remember it clearly,” he said.
Port commissioners and staff and Merrill & Ring staffers met Monday afternoon with the ship’s captain and some crew members to welcome the Koombana Bay to the harbor.
As the Port Angeles representatives arrived, the first loads of logs were already being loaded.
The Panamanian-registered Koombana Bay is owned by Nobal Sky Ltd. and its management company is Pacific Basin Shipping (HK) Ltd. of Hong Kong.
Industry slowdown
The absence of ships loading logs in Port Angeles Harbor has been a constant reminder of the slowdown in the industry, Schoenfeldt said.
“I don’t know if this is a sign of the start of an upward trend, but I hope so,” said John Calhoun, port commissioner.
“We’ll have to wait and see if we get more in.”
The logs — mostly hemlock and fir — come from a variety of companies, Stutesman said.
Some came from Merrill and Ring’s own lands while others came from Rayonier Inc. forests and the Makah tribe, he said.
“But none of them came from state lands,” Calhoun said.
“There is a ban on exporting state logs, so all of these came from other places than the state land.”
Although how much revenue the Port of Port Angeles will receive for the operation hasn’t been totaled yet, the agency will also benefit from the ship as well because of its berth at the Terminal 3 pier for three days, said Port Executive Director Jeff Robb.
And all of the logs were processed through the port’s log yard, Robb added.
“The main thing to us isn’t anything the port might get, though,” said Schoenfeldt.
“The main thing is the economic benefit to the community.
“There was a recent study that a fully loaded log ship brings an economic benefit of $2.5 million.
“So even though this is loading only half, that is a significant benefit to our community.”
Stutesman said the nicer logs will be made into deck and building materials in South Korea, and the other logs will be cut into wood pallets.
________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
