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Category: Timber / States and Territories / Forestry

Woodchip exports to resume from Hobart waterfront

Friday, 8 Jul 2016 14:43:13 | Stephen Smiley

Mr Gutwein is promising there will not be piles of woodchip on the Hobart wharf. (ABC News: Ellen Coulter)

The Tasmanian Government is downplaying the impact of additional truck movements in Hobart after announcing the return of woodchip exports from Hobart's Macquarie Wharf.

Shipping of woodchips will resume within months after the signing of a contract with an exporter.

Forestry Minister Peter Gutwein said negotiations were underway with two others.

He said the deal showed the Government and the private sector had worked together to find a medium-term solution to help struggling contractors in the south.

"We are now growing the industry in a sensible way," Mr Gutwein said.

Since the loss of the deep water port at Triabunna in 2011, southern forestry contractors have been without a nearby export facility for woodchips.

The Government's forest estate manager, Forestry Tasmania, has been spending $5 million a year to subsidise the trucking of timber residues northward.

End to trucking subsidy, Minister indicates

Mr Gutwein said the reopening of Macquarie Wharf for residue exports meant Forestry Tasmania would save money, although he was vague on details.

He indicated that, once the new woodchip port in central Hobart was up and running, the trucking subsidy would end.

"There will still be some wood that's transported to the north on commercial terms," he said.

"Our expectation is there will be a material improvement in the bottom line for Forestry Tasmania as a result of this.

"But of course these are commercial-in-confidence negotiations between the private sector and Forestry Tasmania."

The State Opposition has requested more details about the deal.

"The Government is still keeping Tasmanians in the dark over what its plan for southern residues actually is," Acting Opposition Leader Michelle O'Byrne said.

The Tasmanian Greens are opposed to the plan, and reiterated their opposition to native forest logging.

"Global pulp and paper markets have rejected old growth timber from Tasmania," Greens leader Cassy O'Connor said in a statement.

Minister promises no woodchip pile, minimal truck traffic

Mr Gutwein conceded the resumption of woodchip exports from Macquarie Wharf would bring some additional traffic around the Hobart waterfront.

But he stressed truck movements would not be excessive.

"Certainly with wood coming from the south of the state, the expectation is that there will be no more than a couple of truck movements per hour on average," he said.

Ms O'Connor suggested the plan was inconsistent with plans for a multi-million-dollar tourism venture near Macquarie Point.

"On the one hand the Liberals are inviting the Eden Project to establish a base at Macquarie Point," she said.

"While on the other, [they are] contracting for the export of presumably large volumes of timber."

Lord Mayor Sue Hickey wanted to hear more about the plan and possible impacts on city traffic which was already congested at times.

"I'm hoping we can work very closely with the Minister to make sure that we minimise the traffic disruptions so that we certainly don't get the trucks in peak times," she told the ABC.

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