50 | Nelson Forest Managers FORESTRY 84-86 Beach Road, Richmond, Nelson 027 557 7064 | bryan@austintippers.co.nz Proud to support Nelson Forest Managers. Delivering reliable log transport services across the Top of the South. Container marketing a success The company has a contract to market containerised logs from the top of the south, with timber going to China, Vietnam and India. T T Russell Fredric A new containerised timber market is providing Nelson Forest Managers a way to sell smaller parcels of alternative species into overseas markets. The Richmond, Tasman, business has secured a contract to market containerised logs from the top of the South Island, with timber going to China, Vietnam and India. Nelson Forest Managers owner and forestry manager Matt Stuart says this approach complements break-bulk shipping through Nelson, where ships require large volumes to be assembled before loading. “By doing this, it allows a greater profit and a marketability for those logs.” It is particularly relevant to private growers with small stands of species such as Macrocarpa, Douglas Fir, redwoods, Oak and Lusitanica. A few hundred trees might be too small a parcel for conventional export channels, but containers create a way to consolidate smaller volumes and match them with overseas demand. Matt says the model has been used before in New Zealand, but previous attempts involved large shipments rather than the current break-bulk and containerised approach. Its newer application to alternative species is opening a market for timber that might otherwise have limited options beyond local buyers or, in some cases, firewood. The containerised trade sits alongside Nelson Forest Managers’ role in marketing plantation timber for private forest owners. Matt assesses each block and weighs up the available local and export markets. “What I’m doing is looking at the private forestry owners out there and trying to give them or make them the most money possible.” That means working with harvesting contractors to ensure trees are cut in a way that makes the best use of log grades, then matching those logs with different buyers. Local markets include sawmills and producers of posts and poles, as well as buyers of pruned logs and material for LVL production, while exporters provide access to overseas markets. A block where all the timber is exported may not necessarily deliver the best return. Separating suitable grades and finding buyers willing to pay more for particular products can lift the overall value of the forest to its owner. Current market conditions make that approach more important. Harvesting and cartage contractors are facing higher fuel, maintenance and repair costs, while log prices have remained flat as Chinese demand has fallen from 2022 and 2023 levels. Matt says containerised shipments can provide another avenue for quality radiata and alternative species to achieve a premium, while smaller overseas ports can handle manageable consignments rather than a 30,000-tonne break-bulk shipment. The business developed from Matt’s early silviculture work with his father’s forestry crew in the early 1990s. Nelson Forest Managers was established in 2000, initially focused largely on silviculture before clients whose forests had reached harvesting age began asking Matt to take on their harvesting and timber marketing.
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