Albany revives timber export

Thousands of pine logs are being loaded on to a ship at Albany Port this week ahead of the first log export in five years.

About 19,000 tonnes of timber harvested from a pine plantation in Napier is scheduled to sail aboard the MV Perseverance to Guangdong province in China this Sunday in the revival of Albany's timber export industry by S&M Enterprises.

The Australian company has stockpiled 20,000 tonnes of logs at a marshalling yard on Princess Royal Drive over the past three months.

Port of Albany general manager Brad Williamson said the last export of logs was in 2010 and that he was pleased the industry had been renewed because it diversified the port's trade.

He said he hoped the trade would continue to develop as trees matured, adding a second shipment to China was expected in coming months and there was the potential for more exports as plantation timber became available over the next year.

"The transport and loading of the logs is significantly more labour-intensive than grain or woodchip shipments, so there is much more labour required by the stevedores to handle this trade," he said.