By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOTForest products is a major commodity for ports up and down the US East Coast. From August 2004 to July 2005, wood, paper and woodpulp commodities encompassed 32,702 short tons of exports from the United States and 24,136 short tons of imports into this country. Ports in the North and South Atlantic handled 6,226 short tons of the imports and 11,348 short tons of the exports. The bulk of the business was containerized. Trade in this commodity is highly competitive between seaports operating along the Atlantic coast. This commodity carves out a good niche business for a region that competes heavily with larger ports vying for containerized business. Ports enjoy the opportunity to both import and export products that range anywhere from lumber to rolls of high-end paper. Port of BaltimoreThe Port of Baltimore was the No. 1 port on the East Coast for imported forest products, according to Maryland Port Administration (MPA) statistics. In fact, Rick Schiappacasse, MPA director of Latin America, Caribbean and Forest Products, comments, “The port has seen double-digit increases in forest products for the fifth year in a row.” Schiappacasse anticipates Chile will be the next big player in woodpulp shipments. Last year some 1 million tons of woodpulp-based products, such as tissue for paper towels and napkins, arrived in Baltimore from Brazil. Included in that total was 500,000 tons of high-end paper used in magazines and other publications that arrived at the Locust Point terminals. North and South Locust Point have been dedicated terminals for forest products that accommodate long- and short-term warehousing and distribution need. But the big news is the six-year lease signed on November 15 (effective February 2006) between the State of Maryland and Baltimore Forest Products Terminals, Inc. (BalTerm) and Finnish paper company M-real. The lease includes two subsequent six-year options, for a total of 18 years. The deal will result in an estimated 600,000 tons of cargo for this year alone. It catapults the Port of Baltimore into one of the nation’s leading forest products ports. It also enables M-real to consolidate and streamline its annual distribution of paper and paperboard in North America. As part of the agreement, the State will construct additional warehouse space and a stern ramp at the Port. Additionally, M-real will have property allotted for handling expanding outbound freight. The infrastructure will accommodate M-real’s growth and facilitate tendering more efficient vessels. MPA wooed M-real with the promise of the $30 million warehouse that will include a large “forest products friendly” transit shed. The port is also constructing a new parking area for trucks and new security gates for the complex. M-real produces paperboard used for packaging, as a base for wallpaper, magazine paper, commercial printing paper used to make brochures, and a variety of other products. “M-real currently moves 125,000 tons of coated magazine paper through the port. With the new deal, the company will add an additional 360,000 tons by 2007,” states F. Brooks Royster, III, MPA Executive Director. According to Royster, by consolidating M-real’s imports into one port the company can pursue better rail and trucking rates. He says M-real can also command better storage and handling rates from MPA. Port of PhiladelphiaThe Port of Philadelphia competes directly with the Port of Baltimore for forest products business. Wagonborg, Transatlatnic Services and Star Shipping make their calls at the Port of Philadelphia. Most forest product activity is found at Pier 78 and 80, and Piers 38 and 40, operated by Penn Warehousing and Distribution, where newsprint, coated paper, woodpulp, lumber, and other forest products are handled. Sean Mahoney, port spokesman, reports that the port recently broke ground on a new 200,000 square-foot warehouse at what the port is dubbing Pier 74, to handle forest products cargoes. “The facility is needed