Two West End Portac mills to be purchased by Canadian company
By Greg Skinner, for Peninsula Daily News
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No major work force changes — such as layoffs — are planned because of the purchase, said Rick Slaco, vice president and chief forester of Canadian-based International Forest Products Ltd., known as Interfor.
The mills — a planer mill in Forks and a sawmill on Lake Pleasant north of Forks in Beaver — will continue to operate on an already reduced schedule, he said.
Both mills had cut back to one shift from two on April 28, with some layoffs, said Mike House, a supervisor at the Forks planer mill.
He did not know the specific numbers of layoffs, he said, referring questions to Jim Woodward, planer mill supervisor, who was not available for comment on Friday and Saturday.
The two mills once employed 109 people between them.
Because of a depressed lumber market, the Portac mills ran off-and-on schedules in the spring, idling workers for weeks at a time.
Portac employees referred all questions about the sale to Gary Takahashi, Portac president.
Takahashi did not return multiple phone calls Friday seeking comment about the sale.
Binding agreement
Interfor, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, announced late Thursday that it had signed a binding agreement with Tacoma-based Portac for both lumber mills.
Interfor operates a sawmill, dry kiln and planer mill on a 70-acre site in Port Angeles.
Interfor suffered a $29.4 million loss in the second quarter of this year, and sales are down nearly $80 million over the same time last year, but Slaco said the company remains financially strong.
"We think it's good to buy now because the downturn," Slaco said.
"The strength of our balance sheet allows us to make the purchase now when others can't."
Slaco said the two West End mills round out the company's products because they have the ability to produce varied dimensional lumber to fill market needs.
"We've been watching both mills for years," he said.
The Portac acquisition will bring Interfor's production capacity in the Pacific Northwest to 870 million board feet annually, Canadian Press said.
Although the purchase will not lead to layoffs, Slaco said, there is always the chance that a further downturn in the construction-driven lumber economy that could lead to less work, he said.
It's possible that some jobs in the sales force could be combined, Slaco said.
Changes
Increased profit from the mills is expected to come from better distribution of the yard logs, and perhaps better sales efforts, he said.
Slaco said his company intended to make a few upgrades to log storage in the yards.
Changes could improve safety for mill workers, he said.
Forks Mayor Nedra Reed said she didn't expect any major changes in the work force.
The Forks mill has been successful and a good employer who's just signed a 10-year lease with the city, she said.
"I don't anticipate it will change," she said.
Marcia Bingham, executive director of the Forks Chamber of Commerce, said that with mill operations already reduced due to a soft lumber market, she couldn't predict what effect the sale might have on the community.
Last modified: July 26. 2008 9:00PM