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but with Brexit that didn’t transpire. Brexit has been very good for us and I think it will continue that way.”
Scotline has been receiving a lot more calls in the past year from timber companies wanting landed stock, stockholding facilities or quay facilities, especially due to some ports being completely full of timber. “Everyone is asking to bring more timber in, which is OK if it comes in and goes out. We have had three people approach us in the last month to ask if they can do stockholding at Rochester but we have had to say we can’t handle that at the moment.”
Existing customer volumes, including many small companies bringing in garden products from the Baltic states means it is difficult to be accommodating to everyone. “It’s easy to say yes we’ll bring it in but it just creates problems all the way down the line, especially with the haulage problems. Even if the volume went down by 20% it would not bother me because I can keep our volumes up with people who want to come in and have a stock facility.”
The biggest headache at the moment in the industry is trying to find sufficient haulage. “A year ago we sat back and all the hauliers phoned us – now we need to chase them. We are still doing a lot of lorries every day. Price- wise some costs are absolutely ridiculous while others want just a decent increase. “Talking to one or two of our drivers you hear the supermarkets are paying big bonuses to attract drivers.”
And Amazon drivers are being paid high fees – higher than timber haulage for some journeys. “We are competing against people who are desperate to get the lorries at any rates,” added Mr Millatt.
Another major consideration for ship operators is the price of fuel. Mr Millatt predicted steady fuel price levels. “Last year fuel rate came down to a very low rate in June and then went back to nearly what it was before the pandemic. I think it will be steady at this level.”
He pointed out the airline industry’s vastly reduced fuel consumption levels over the last 18 months have a factor on the fuel market. On the renewable energy front there is talk of electric ships in the future and switching ships onto shore power when they get into port. Scotline’s most recent ship – Scot Isles – has a battery pack which means in ports the generators can be switched off. But Mr Millatt sees prospects of building wide scale shore power facilities at ports unlikely in the short-term due to the expense. Increasing restrictions on emissions have already seen heavy fuel oil’s sulphur content reduce from 3.5% to 1% worldwide and down to 0.5% in northern Europe.
There is further talk and some small trials of adding ethanol and ammonia to the fuel mix. ■
SR TIMBER RISING TO THE PANDEMIC IMPORTING CHALLENGE
SR Timber imports high volumes of roofing battens and other timber products from across Europe. Shaun Revill, trading director, talks about importing in the recent climate
TTJ: CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE SR TIMBER OPERATION IN TERMS OF PRODUCT SUPPLY ROUTE – ITS OVERSEAS MILL OPERATION, SUPPLY ROUTE TO UK AND PORT OF ENTRY? SR: “SR Timber has decades of experience producing and supplying timber construction products from roofing battens to high-end cedar shingles and carcassing material. This background in the industry means we have an expert understanding of the roofing business and know our customers need a guaranteed supply of high quality timber materials. With the largest roofing batten production mill in Europe and contacts with other leading producers from across Scandinavia, Latvia and the Baltic states, it means we deliver regular shipments to our holding terminals in Humber, South Wales and the south coast.”
TTJ: CAN YOU OUTLINE SOME OF THE MAIN CHALLENGES IN IMPORTING GOODS FROM EUROPE DURING THE PANDEMIC AND BREXIT? SR: “In March 2020 as the Covid pandemic hit the UK, construction (and other than essential projects) virtually stopped overnight, with the knock-on impact on demand for many products including structural timber, roofing battens and sheet materials. This led quite quickly to extremely high stock levels of timber. With warehouses and port locations full of product, many major importers had to either cancel or delay shipments during April with no notice to the sawmills. As you can imagine, this type of unplanned change in demand led to a number of large mills either reducing production or even closing mills for a period. A number of timber products such as fencing and decking for home renovation and DIY projects actually had extremely high demand through the spring and summer of 2020 and when restrictions started to ease, we ended up with a large spike in demand for timber which the supply chain was not ready for. The reality has been that stock levels have never really recovered and despite a 50% increase in timber imported to the UK in January-April 2021 (vs 2020) this is only barely keeping up with demand and no sign of availability improving significantly over the next few months. Many Scandinavian mills have had traditional summer holiday shutdowns. This, combined with the increased administration from Brexit, the ongoing shortage of drivers and shortage of containers into the UK means we are likely to see some shortages or at least extended lead times for some months yet.”
TTJ: HOW HAS SUPPLY AND AVAILABILITY OF ROOF BATTENS BEEN? SR: “Fortunately, SR Timber has an extremely close supply chain from the branches all the way back to the mills and forests. Our mill supplier partners understood the situation and whilst it caused them issues, we worked together to manage the situation. At SR Timber we have really benefited from our tight supply chain to be able to ensure regular and consistent volumes of roofing batten, cedar shingles, scaffold boards, and other associated timber to our customers over the last 16 months.”
TTJ: WHAT THINGS DO YOU SEE BEING IMPORTANT IN THE COMING MONTHS FROM AN IMPORTING POINT OF VIEW? SR: “There is currently very little ‘buffer’ stocks in the supply chain from mill to merchant, therefore even a slight softening in demand is unlikely to have any major impact on price or availability in the short term. It will take some months before stock levels are any way near back to ‘normal’ levels. Also, availability of shipping capacity, lack of haulage drivers and extremely busy and congested UK ports means that delays in delivery and extended lead times are still likely even where product has been produced and is ready and available for importers. The longer term consequences of Brexit are still unclear, as are the implications on producers / mills of managing the CE / UKCA marking dilemma within their production. There is no sign of any medium to long-term slowdown in demand, so having our long-term relationships with our key mills will be crucial.” ■
www.ttjonline.com | September/October 2021 | TTJ
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