PORT ANGELES — The Port of Port Angeles’s log yard is so busy that it is using machinery “mothballed” for a decade for lack of need.
A victim of unexpected success, that old equipment is breaking down, challenging port maintenance and officials to keep the logs moving, port Executive Director Jeff Robb told commissioners last week.
“1970s vintage equipment is being put to work in an aggressive environment,” Robb said.
“It hasn’t been used like this in 10 years.”
The port has a plan to get the machinery into shape but is short-handed.
When the port last used the stackers, the port had four mechanics to maintain the equipment. Now, it has two, Robb said.
Two of those stackers need to be taken out of service for maintenance, but there is too much work for them to do.
The breakdowns are delaying ships’ schedules, and that’s unacceptable, said Commissioner John Calhoun.
The problem has a huge upside.
By the end of August, the port had a net budget surplus of $677,500, said Bill James, finance director.
The port had budgeted for $513,878 in receipts for log yard activity but has reaped more than $700,000.
Log ships, which all but disappeared earlier in the decade, have been regulars at the port’s terminals
since 2009.
By Sept. 1, 2010, there were eight log ship visits to the port.
By Sept. 1 of this year, the number had swelled to 17 to move the bark-stripped softwood logs — grown on private grounds primarily on the West End — to China and Korea.
The port’s marine terminal has provided an even bigger cash flow surprise.
The 2011 port budget was based on $695,044 in expected income.
Instead, that was more than doubled as the marine terminal earned nearly $1,594,230 — a 129 percent increase, James said.
The port currently has plans to improve the terminal to take advantage of the increased interest in port services.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.