THE Mount Gambier and district timber industry is set to become a world leader with the largest sawmilling investment in Australia’s history set to be poured into a processing site.
Timberlink will spend a staggering $90m on overhauling its sprawling Tarpeena processing site, which will put it on the map as one of the world’s most sophisticated and significant sawmills.
The massive investment will secure hundreds of direct and indirect jobs and cement the site for decades to come as the industry enjoys an upswing in confidence fuelled by growing demand.
The industry is considered to be in the box seat for growth given the renewed consumer focus on timber as a sustainable and environmentally-friendly product.
According to Timberlink, this “generational” expansion and upgrade will see more logs flow into the Tarpeena site for its manufacturing streams.
The project will also drive an economic boon over the next three years with hundreds of jobs expected to be underpinned through the construction phase, which will see the site’s manufacturing capability “rebuilt”.
Timberlink chief executive officer Ian Tyson described the investment as “enormous” and one of the largest of any sawmill operation across the world.
“This is a great day for Australian manufacturing,” Mr Tyson told The Border Watch.
“The project will be of global significance and will be similar to the money being spent on big sawmills in America. This is occurring in our own backyard and will be of world-scale.”
Importantly, the investment will also see an upswing in manufactured product exports flowing out of Australia.
“We will employ more people than the population of Tarpeena – this investment is something for the whole community,” Mr Tyson said.
The company chief said the project would be a “significant” economic multiplier given it would fuel activity in the transport, haulage, logging and associated industries.
Mr Tyson said the company had employed additional staff in preparation for the development, which would cement it as globally competitive.
“We are ensuring that all aspects of the business are internationally competitive to secure our long-term future and this significant investment will secure Timberlink’s position as one of Australasia’s leading softwood sawmillers,” he said.
“Our integrated business model allows us to optimise and guarantee our supply from the forest all the way to our customers door and at its core this program is about increasing and securing that supply of timber.”
Mr Tyson said the company had secured log supply for the expansion through its parent company’s New Forests estate as well as a number of other growers.
He said the company wanted to see as much of this log processed in the region as possible and not exported out of the Port of Portland.
Timberlink chairman and chief executive officer of investment management firm New Forests, David Brand, expressed his support for the mill upgrade program.
“This is a substantial re-investment in the Timberlink mill facilities and continues to demonstrate the strong recovery of the Australian forestry sector under institutional investor ownership,” Mr Brand said.
“Timberlink has become a leading wood products business and I expect it will continue to innovate and grow, creating new manufacturing jobs in regional areas, while increasing the supply of timber in Australia.”
The investment in Tarpeena will lead to the installation of a completely new saw line, stacker and edger, all with the latest leading-edge technology, coupled with additional contraflow and batch kilns for drying timber.
Major site infrastructure changes including upgrades to roads and storage facilities will also be undertaken.
Collectively, the company will spend $100m at Tarpeena and its Tasmanian processing site.
Timberlink will continue discussions with the Tasmanian, South Australian and federal governments seeking their funding support for further enhancements related to the business expansion programs.
The new capital also enables the ongoing investment in training and upskilling of Timberlink’s employees.
With 87pc of the company’s workforce living in regional areas, Timberlink said these investments would build stronger local economies and communities.
The sawmills will be able to continue to operate normally during the building process, allowing supply of timber to customers to continue as usual.
Timberlink is owned by investment funds managed by New Forests, a sustainable real assets investment manager headquartered in Sydney.
Founded in 2005, New Forests manages around A$5b in assets under management across 940,000 hectares of forests and land in Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the United States.
