Photo/Western Forest Products
A Port Alberni sawmill with more than 200 employees will suspend operations for four weeks beginning on March 18th.
Western Forest Products said the move was prompted by a lack of market demand for its hemlock squares in Japan.
“Western will be temporarily suspending operations at our APD (Alberni Pacific Division) facility for a period of four weeks, beginning March 18,” writes Western Forest Products spokesperson Bebita Khunkhun.
She adds that the company employs 240 people at the APD facility, and that the majority will be impacted by the move.
“We will look to redeploy those impacted where opportunities present themselves at our other operations,” she writes.
Western Forest Products halted operations at its Somass Mill in Port Alberni in July 2017. That mill had employed as many as 2000 workers in the 1980’s, but had only 60 people on the payroll when it was shuttered.
Last October, Langley-based San Group announced it would be building build the first new sawmill on Vancouver Island in more than a decade in Port Alberni. The project will cost up to $80 million to complete and is expected to bring dozens of new jobs to the Alberni Valley.
Ben O'Hara
