The new owners of the Coulson Manufacturing Mill (formerly operated by the San Group) say they are anxious to get the mill back up and running after purchasing the Port Alberni facility in a court-approved sale in June of this year.
The mill on Seizai Road will act as a stand-alone operation named Coulson Sawmills and will be managed by Jovan and Ajit Gill, but are connected at arms length with Fraserview Cedar on the Lower Mainland.
“This is the next generation of Gills that have bought this and their plan is to go up there and get their own relationship,” says Fraserview Chief Executive Officer Gary Gill.
Plans are to get the operation going near the beginning of November but the company’s first priority is to build up a long-term log deck so that the mill can run continuously with a healthy supply of logs.
That’s a problem that Gary Gill says is facing other mills as well.
“Log supply is our biggest challenge right now. Some players in the area have been very cooperative, for example the Dorman Group has been very cooperative and very supportive of our efforts and they’ve actually offered us a fair number of logs,” he says
Part of the problem has been created by delays due to summer holidays plus fire-season shutdowns of various logging camps.
The recently implemented 35 percent softwood lumber duty has also negatively impacted market conditions.
The Gills say the Alberni mill will hold onto the Coulson name because of its international reputation.
“The Coulson name, just talking to the locals, did have some brand equity to it, so we’d like to retain that and that’s basically why we went with that,” Gary says.
Jovan adds ”Not only locally, but around the world in our markets that we service from a lumber perspective, the Coulson name is known, when you mention the Coulson sawmills, people know exactly (the fibre quality) what you’re talking about.”
The Gills say the mill’s location and the quality of the equipment inside it is what drew their attention to the facility. They plan to use it to process a variety of lumber—everything from 2x3’s to 12x12.
Sixty to 70 percent of the product will remain in Canada in value-added form and the rest will be exported to worldwide markets.
“To the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia," Jovan says.
When it opens, the plan is to operate the mill drawing from the union’s roster of approximately 90 members.
”We’ve been in touch with the union reps and some of the senior people at the operation, they’re basically all sitting there cheering us on to get this thing started so they’re on standby,” Gary says.
The Gill group says it appreciates the support and patience of the town and looks forward to getting the mill back up and running for the long term.
