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Byfield log raft plan ED/A hits govt snag
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THE future of exporting Byfield pines to markets throughout Asia, Korea, India, Taiwan and Japan was delicately poised this week ... and up to 100 jobs for the Coast hung in the balance. A ship, which had been contracted to pick up the timber off the Capricorn Coast was already sea and the decision to let it continue to this area, or cancel it, had to be made by midday Thursday. At stake was the whole future of exporting a multi-million dollar pines from Byfield venture. The problem was two-fold: 0 Wood Marketing Pty Ltd, the company exporting the timber, said it had not received its exporting licence from the Federal Government and, 0 The original plan to float the pines in log rafts out to sea from Water Park Creek was under threat, with the possibility that the timber would have to be shipped through Port Alma. The major problem was the export licence. Tentative arrangements to send out the timber on the ship from Korea were made late last month. The export licence was "virtually assured" at that time but Eddie Kwan, who represents the export side of the operation, said late Wednesday afternoon he was panicking because the licence had not been approved. "The reputation of this whole venture rests on this shipment," Mr Kwan said. "I have to decide by lunch-time Thursday whether to allow the ship to continue here or whether to cancel it." That decision, in money terms, was worth about $150,000. That is about how much it would cost if the ship was allowed to continue to the Capricorn Coast and then found there was no cargo to load. But, long-term, that decision could cost Australia millions of dollars in lost exports. And also at stake is the 14,500-tonne load of pine ... it has been cut and is ready for shipment. But if it is not shipped by the end of this month it will be worthless. "If we don't ship it out we may as well burn it," Mr Kwan said. "There is a problem with pine 'hipments with a disease called Blue Stain. If this shipment is left too long it will develop it. "It can't wait for the next ship and it can't wait for politicians." Mr Kwan said the timber itself was second grade and was worthless within Australia ... but Wood Marketing Pty Ltd had found a market for it overseas that would be worth millions of dollars. It has a market in India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Asia where it can be pulped. But the buyers would have to "accommodate" the Byfield product. If Australia proved it could provide a continuing supply, the buyers would be prepared to take it on a long-term basis. "But if we miss this first shipment Australia will lose total credibility as a source of supply," Mr Kwan said. "We may as well go back to the drawing board." Not directly linked with the export licence, but also a part of the problem, is the method of shipment.
Wood Marketing has always publicly proposed shipping the timber as log rafts for loading at sea. But a problem has arisen ... the company said it has been asked by the Federal Government to consider loading the timber at Port Alma. Company managing director Loretta Bertoldo said this was physically impossible. - Instead of trucking the timber 8km to Water Park Creek, the company would have to make a 300-km round-trip with each 20-tonne load. "That would .mean 90 trucks a day using Livingstone Shire roads, polluting the environment, delaying traffic and causing safety worries," Mrs Bertoldo said. She spent Monday and Tuesday at the Coast and made the round trip herself to see what were the logistics involved in using Port Alma. Her conclusion, that it was impossible, has been telexed to the Federal Government and she said it had been passed on to Environment Minister Barry Cohen for his consideration. She has asked that this first shipment be allowed to be loaded at sea after being made up into log rafts. She wants permission for this so that everyone involved can see how the system operates. Final decisions about future shipments could be made after everyone concerned had seen how it worked. This would also allow time for the government to see that taking out the loads through Port Alma was impractical. Mrs Bertoldo said 30 field workers were now employed at Byfield and triple this number would be needed when the shipment was due to be floated out to sea and loaded. The 30 men at Byfield had been given "R and R" this week after weeks of solid work cutting the pines for the first shipment. All would be recalled, plus at least 60 more men would be needed, when the shipment was ready for loading. 0 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
team holds aloft the premiership tropy in one hand ... and shares his proud moment with four-year-old daughter Hannah who responds with the look of love only a daughter can share with her father. To complete the picture, Trevor had the grand final pennant draped over his shoulder. See grand final pictures in centre of paper.
Govt OKs export licence WOOD Marketing Pty Ltd already has an export licence to send its first shipment of Byfield pines overseas ... but the load has to be shipped through Port Alma. A spokesman for Federal Primary Industry Minister John Kerrod said the company had applied for a licence to ship through Port Alma and it had been approved. However, the Federal department had since found out that the company wanted to float the timer down Water Park Creek and through Corio Bay to sea for loading. The Federal Government had found out about this by accident ... it had not been asked for an export licence to load through Corio Bay but for a licence to load through Port Alma. Mr Kerrod's department had learned of the. Corio Bay plans by accident, the spokesman said. The information had come through the Queensland Forestry Department. The spokesman said Corio Bay was a State Fauna Reserve and an Environmental Impact Study was needed before approval could be considered.
"Wood Marketing Pty Ltd did not tell us that shipping plans had been changed from Port Alma to Corio Bay," the spokesman said. "If they want to go through Corio Bay, we have to follow laid down requirements applying to fauna reserves. "If they had informed us of their intentions, we would now be further down the track." The spokesman said that "right now", the company had a licence to ship through Port Alma. "We've been doing our best to accommodate them." When told the government said it had not been told of plans to ship through Corio Bay, Mrs Bertoldo said: "No, no, that is absolutely incorrect." She said her company had hired a firm of public relations consultants in Canberra to lobby the government and this company had told the government of plans to ship through Corio Bay. Mrs Bertoldo also read a document she said was from GR Bryant, assistant secretary of
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through port Forestry and Land Management (Federal Government department) dated September 1. She said this document asked her to provide information urgently regarding the differences between using Port Alma versus floating logs out to sea. The Capricorn Coast Mirror contacted the man Mrs Bertoldo had commissioned to lobby the Federal Government at his home in Canberra on Wednesday night. He said the original plan was to ship the pines through Port Alma but this had been changed to floating logslito sea in June or July this year. Because he was at home he did not have access to his files, but he recalled a letter sent to the Queensland Forestry Department notifying that Wood Marketing Pty Ltd intended changing plans from shipping through Port Alma to floating the logs through Corio Bay. He said a copy of this letter was sent to the Federal Government in July. He said the information that the company intended changing from Port Alma would be on file "somewhere" in Canberra.
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