Graeme Rodden

It is not every port that can say it was built on the guano trade. But thanks to bird dung from South America that was used as fertilizer in the 1800s as well as coal from Wales, the Grand Port Maritime La Rochelle (France) had its start,

Development of the port began after the war of 1870. Situated on the west coast of France, the picturesque town of La Rochelle boasts the country's only deep water port on the west coast (13.5 m draught); all the others are river ports inland. It is just 45 minutes from pilot to station. American interests helped in the development as there is easy access to the Atlantic Ocean. This part of the port is now the oil terminal and is just offshore.

The port's inner basin was built in 1890. The first wood products came into the port in the pre-World War I era although the port's customer relations manager Dominique Marquis explains the big push was in the intra-war period. Another driver was clay imported from England for coated paper but which was also used in the fine porcelain made in Limoges.

Nowadays, the port handles close to 10 million tonnes/yr of cargo, split 50:50 between imports and exports. Of the total, about 33% is liquid bulk (import), 33% bulk (export) and 33% general cargo.

Forest products account for about 10% of the volume, of which pulp imports total 660,000 tonnes/yr. Grain and petroleum products are the two largest sectors active in the port.

Pulp is shipped mainly from South America, North America and Europe. Port officials expect demand for pulp to grow as tissue use and specialty paper increases.Imported wood mainly from Africa and Europe is dedicated to building and furniture. Solid wood, particularly African wood, is a large part of the forest products cargo. African wood is very resinous, well-suited for marine plywood and La Rochelle is a boat building center. As imports of wood pellets increase, this has distinct potential for La Rochelle.

Forest products on deep sea vessels are handled mainly at the Chef de Baie terminal which has three berths - 180 m, 250 m, 135 m - and a minimum draft of 13m alongside. The Chef de Baie terminal also has 1 RoRo ramp.

European pulp coming by coasters, mainly from Portugal and Estonia, is offloaded at the Bassin à Flot (inner basin), which features a RoRo ramp. Wood from Finland is also discharged here.

Chef de Baie and Bassin à Flot are private terminals managed by BLP Cogemar, a subsidiary of the French Bolloré group.

Almost 200 years of history

Bolloré was founded in 1822 and now has revenues of more than Euro 10 billion annually. It has more than 37,000 employees in 108 countries. BLP is its port logistics arm and is the leading firm in France of its type, operating in 14 ports in the country. Besides La Rochelle, it also has private terminals and concession in the French ports of Dunkirk, Rouen and Montoir/St Nazaire.

At La Rochelle, BLP Cogemar is active as stevedoring company, customs and freight forwarding, warehousing as well as onward transport by truck or train, and also shipping agent with about 300 calls per year under the brand name of BLP Shipping.

One of BLP's main products is forest products ranging from logs to solid wood products to pulp and paper. BLP Cogemar La Rochelle is France's largest stevedoring company for forest products, responsible for discharging all pulp arriving in La Rochelle, and as of March 1, 2014, it will be in charge of all handling, warehousing, freight forwarding and customs operations for this commodity.

BLP Cogemar has long-term relationships with the major ship owners such as Gearbulk, Grieg Star,Saga Forest Carriers, Wagenborg and Westfal-Larsen among others.

In 2013, BLP Cogemar expected to have revenues of Euro 19 million. Wood pulp (660,000 tonnes) and timber (200,000 m³) account for more than 75% of its business. The wood pulp volume has increased by more than 50% since 2008.

In 2010, it signed three terminal concession agreements for 25 years at the port: Chef de Baie, Bassin à Flot and West Deep Sea Pier. This covers more than 300,000 m²of ground including 35,000 m²of warehousing close to berth (and a total warehousing capacity in the port of 70,000 m² out of which 35,000 m² dedicated to pulp), 12 berthing places ( three at Chef de Baie, three at Mole d'Escale and six in the Bassin à Flot) various equipment including seven shore cranes. It has plans to construct new warehouses in the coming years. It is the sole stevedore at these terminals.

Stéphane Brault of BLP Cogemar's shipping department notes that it can offload 600 tonnes per gang per hour and can work 24 hours/day. On average, the stevedore can offload 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes/day of pulp but it depends on availability of the cranes and personnel. BLP Cogemar can handle up to 25,000 tonnes/day of pulp.

With new pulp capacities in Portugal and Estonia, volume from these places has picked up. Brault notes that the business from Europe is especially welcome because it is easy to find outward cargo, especially grain, for the coaster reloading.

In the transport end, goods are three times more likely to leave the port by truck rather than by train. Brault says that to grow volume by train, block trains (at least 1,250 tonnes) are needed to be feasible. Currently, BLP has a weekly block train going to the Rhone-Alpes region. Two other weekly block trains deliver directly to a paper mill. Further destinations are being studied by BLP, as well as sea transshipment as a multi-modal solution.

Looking ahead

One of the objectives of the port is to grow traffic to 12 million tonnes by 2020. There is an extension project underway (reclaimed land). "In the next few years we have a major plan to invest," Marquis says. "We can provide our companies all areas to develop."

It should be noted that prior to 2010 it was the government in charge of port operations including warehousing, cranes and drivers. Now, the port authority acts more as a landlord and private interests run the port. Investments are done by all levels of government as well as the terminal operators. Has this helped development? Brault says the jury is still out as it has only been three years since implementation.

But he is certain it will help in the future and he noted that measure had been requested by the French stevedoring companies for a long time.

To Marquis, one of the major benefits of the transfer has been the speed of response and level of service. "Private operators provide more services such as warehouses and cranes. We are more open to customer's requests compared with the past."

With its superb location, ambitious expansion plans and companies eager to serve, La Rochelle is determined to find a prime position for itself in the forest products industry.

BRUSSELS, June 1, 2014 (PPI Magazine) - It's safe to say that the pulp and paper industry's view of NGOs has dramatically changed over the past 20 years. No longer dismissed as a bunch of trouble-making, long-haired college kids who don't want to work and no longer viewed as "eco-terrorists" who want to completely shut down an industry, over the years, the industry, perhaps reluctantly, has come to view the NGOs as having the best interests of the planet in mind. Nor do the NGOs view the forest products companies or their executives as rapacious destroyers of the universe.

Reaching common ground was not always an easy task. All realized that working together, through their mutual suspicions, was a better way to achieve success. It's not a perfect world and may never be. There are still exceptions to the previous statements and some sticky points remain.

But how do the NGOs view themselves in relation to the forest products industry? What is their role? PPI recently interviewed representatives from two of North America's (and global) leading NGOs: Linda Walker, manager, Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) - North America for the World Wild-life Fund (WWF); and Richard Brooks, forest coordinator, Greenpeace Canada.

Prior to joining WWF, Walker was a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain-of-custody auditor with Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood program. While a graduate student in Indonesia, she studied Sumatra's pulp and paper industry.

Brooks says that in Canada, Greenpeace's activities are split fairly evenly among three sectors: forest conservation; climate change and energy; and oceans. Globally, he adds that Greenpeace is more into climate change but that deforestation factors heavily into this issue.

He leads Greenpeace Canada's forest team and has been with Greenpeace for 12 years and states that much of his work is corporate partnership. The "banners on the buildings" only account for about 10% of the organization's work. However, Brooks stresses that, "This is important because it is an attention grabber and gets Greenpeace in the door and gives us a position of being able to negotiate with power."

This type of tactic and the NGOs' (not just Greenpeace) ability to master the short soundbite that makes news headlines is a way to motivate people to learn about issues, connect with the issues and support Greenpeace, Brooks adds. "We rely on people power to solve problems with governments and organizations."

This is of particular interest to well-branded consumer companies, adds Brooks, because Greenpeace is speaking directly to their customers "and we can drive consumer demand."

For Walker, the focus of the WWF is slightly different. She says that WWF's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth. "Our vision is to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature. Environmental NGOs all work to create a better future for both people and the planet. Given the scale of the challenges we face, all groups need to work together to tackle the pressing challenges facing our planet."

WWF claims its unique contribution is its foundation in science and the strength of its global network of more than 5,000 staff in more than 100 countries with expertise in science, markets, policy and sustainable finance. "Working to influence conservation at both the local, regional and global levels, WWF realizes that our conservation goals can only be achieved by leveraging the scale and influence of companies to advance sustainability within their supply chains and operations," Walker adds.

"Some of our peers in the environmental community tend to have a more activist approach than WWF, while others provide different services, like auditing, that are valuable in verifying sustainability claims. No single NGO can address the challenges we face in isolation, and others provide complementary initiatives such as a greater focus on campaigning or advocacy."

WWF uses many tools to engage with companies, governments, and other stakeholders to drive improved environmental and social performance within the pulp and paper sector. Walker explains, "These tools are often part of our company engagements through GFTN. We also make tools and resources available to the broader industry, including the Paper Company Environmental Index and Check Your Paper tool, which was designed to reward transparency and promote continual improvement in reducing the environmental footprint of paper production. In addition, WWF's New Generations Plantations Platform engages companies and governments to make environmentally and socially responsible decisions in plantation management by sharing best practices and promoting learning."

Built in 1921, the Fitchburg, MA, mill now the property of Newark Recycled Paperboard Solutions (Newark) has had a colorful history. It was one of 12 mills owned by the Crocker family, which brought papermaking to this small Massachusetts town in the 1800s. At one time, the town was the center of the pulp and paper industry with 14 mills and 43 paper machines.

This mill housed five of those machines as well as a converting facility. Paper made here supplied such notable magazines as the Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal.

In the 1950s the mill was sold to Weyerhaeuser and later to James River. But hard times befell the mill and it was shut in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, private investors took over, converted it to use deinked pulp but that did not help and bankruptcy ensued.

At this time, the Newark Group was looking for a graphic board mill, says general manager Dana Pelletier. The Fitchburg mill was up for auction and Newark thought it would be a great location because of the infrastructure for water and power that was already in place. In 2000, Newark won the bidding.

Pelletier, who came to the mill in 2000, says the mill became one of the key players in the book cover industry, but it had a journey to get there.

At the time of the takeover, there were three paper machines on the property but only one was running and the DIP plant had been idled. Then, the DIP plant was sold to Brazil and the three paper machines were dismantled. The decision was made to install two new machines from Voith, both for the production of graphic board. These started up in 2002. A new power boiler was added. The pulper was relocated and some of the stock prep equipment could be re-used.

The graphic board machine did not produce rolls but instead of a reel at the dry end, there was an inline laminator and converting equipment that would produce a laminated graphic board 3-ply sheet for the gameboard, puzzle and book cover industries. The lining board machine would make the cover stock for the laminated graphic board.

Out of the laminator, the web would go to an inline sheeter, slitter, stacker and into packaging. The technology was unique. As Pelletier says, all that was done offline could now be done inline with one machine.

“It was very efficient,” adds Pelletier but capacity was too high for the needs of the market by the end of 2010 as E-readers grew in popularity.

By this time the mill had been acquired by its present owners, DDJ Capital, and the decision was made to exit the book cover market. The mill returned to offline converting and one of the graphic board machines shut down. Although this graphic board machine is idle, Pelletier says it still has lots of potential. In his interview with PPI, Newark CEO Frank Papa says he does “have plans” for the machines.

Among the work done in the past few years has been the addition of more screening, refining, calendering as well as the installation of a robotic slitting system that can produce a web with a width of 3 in. and up.

The mill has also optimized machine operation, improved its chemistry and done some debottlenecking. this has allowed machine speed to increase to 1,500 ft/min, up from 1,000 ft/min. the table has been modified as has the approach system. Finally, a fine screening system was successfully started up recently.

This machine used to make board with a basis weight range of 60 to 128 lb. now, it ranges between 40 and 98 lb. Capacity is about 106,000 tons/yr.

The changes to the machine meant the operators had to go through a learning curve, one they eagerly accepted. In-house training was done for all processes, from stock prep through machine operation. They were able to take advantage of similar technology in place at other Newark mills.

The work was also done to ensure the new grades would meet new specifications and pass property tests for things such as tensile and ring crush.

The revamped machine has worked to expectation, Pelletier adds. “We’ve had positive feedback on cleanliness and formation.”

The mill’s pulping process is relatively conventional. using a 100% recycled furnish, the raw material goes through a pulper and detrasher into a dump tank. Pelletier says there is a lot of extra capacity in case of an upset at the pulper. Then, the pulp goes through coarse and fine screening.

The majority (70%) of its fiber is baled OCC. Pelletier says the rest is residential mix that comes in loose form. Shrink is a function of the mix the mills uses. With high quality OCC, it is up to 88-89%. He adds that shrink improves with the baled OCC as it is not from single stream collecting. As well, the mill picks its loose fiber suppliers so it chooses the best quality possible.

Newark’s recycled and recovery division handles the supply. “We project our needs and they obtain the contracts to serve us,” Pelletier explains.

The majority of its fiber comes from the new England region but if supply gets tight, Newark will go as far afield as new Jersey and Pennsylvania to secure fiber.

Supply can also be seasonal. However, the mill does have the ability to bale loose fiber and store it so if the market changes or if supplies dwindle, the mill has a ready source.

The mill employs 80 people, a mix of salaried and hourly. The hourly workers include those employed directly by Newark as well as 16 who are contracted, mostly in maintenance, but also in boiler service.

Pelletier says the mill is “fairly closed. We re-use most of our water.” What effluent it does have is discharged to a privately-run treatment facility that is owned by the municipality.

The mill did have co-gen capability but found it was too expensive to generate. It is looking at a CHP plant that would be run by a third party,

The machine upgrade at Fitchburg goes hand in hand with Papa’s philosophy for Newark’s mills, that is, each can produce a full range of products with no more specialization. Pelletier notes that Fitchburg now supplies Newark’s converting plants with high-strength paper grades for tubes and cores.

One difference is that Fitchburg used to be 100% with its sister facilities but now sells about 60% of what it produces on the open market and expects that trend to continue. However, going to market was not that difficult, according to Pelletier. “We just had to make sure we were making the product to the specifications of the customers.”

He adds that this did not mean that there was complacency beforehand. “Our converters had to satisfy outside customers.”

The mill’s main market is new England but it does have some customers in the uS Midwest and Canada. Most deliveries are by truck but an intermodal system is used for more distant deliveries. Pelletier says the mill is re-activating its rail spur.

The change in product matches a change in attitude at the mill. “It now has a can-do attitude,” Pelletier states. There’s been a whole change in culture since the re-organization.”

He adds,” We went from a successful graphic board mill that electronic technology made old but Newark recognized the quality of the assets and made them successful in other markets.”

For the first time in his career at Fitchburg, the mill had a 20-day order backlog this past summer and is running full. Pelletier says this makes the future exciting. “Newark continues to invest capital in the facility so we know we will continue to strive and succeed.”