“I never would have thought in million years that the ban would have lasted this long,” said Curtis Struyk, president of North Carolina-based Carolina Ocean Lines, Inc., an NVOCC and TMX Shipping Co., the freight forwarder. “I am just glad it is over and am looking forward to getting back to business as usual.”
On May 24, following fact-finding trip to Virginia by officials from China’s Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, the Chinese government announced a six-month pilot program designed to begin re-opening that critical market to hardwood and softwood logs from the Commonwealth. Under that program, Virginia export logs will be allowed to re-enter China
beginning June 1 via certain designated ports and with enhanced pest treatment and testing protocols under the terms of the pilot program.
“We are still limited to only being able to ship to Shanghai and Jiangsu, but it’s a start and hopefully will be able to ship to other ports in China when the pilot import program is complete in 6 months,” Struyk said.
In April 2011, China banned both hardwood and softwood log exports from Virginia and South Carolina, citing pest interceptions on logs exported from the United States. For the past year, Gov. Bob McDonnell and secretaries from the Commonwealth’s departments of Agriculture & Forestry and Agriculture and Consumer Services have worked to resolve the issue.
Jerry A, Bridges, executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, said the port was preparing for a resumption of the export log business.
“We’re at the tail of the spring harvest season and normally the harvesting slows in the summer because of the heat, but we’re having some customers tell us they are going to work through the summer to help make up for lost time,” Bridges said. “This is really good news for us and all of those people and businesses that are associated with this industry; this is a good first step in getting back to normal.”
In 2011 the value of Virginia’s log exports was estimated at nearly $57 million, down $10 million from 2010. Prior to the ban, Virginia was a major East Coast supplier of logs to China, the world’s largest log importer.