The Columbia River Business Journal reports that early opponents to the logging operation now see it as an asset to the community
ILWU Local 50 members work at the Port of Astoria’s log operation. Three nine-man stevedore gangs hustled around Pier 1 Feb. 1, helping take the stacked timber from front loaders, wrap it in a cable noose and load it by crane into the hatches of the Malaysian-flagged Eco Discovery. The bulk carrier docked at Pier 1 in the Port of Astoria Jan. 29 to Feb. 5 while it took on more than 5 million board feet of timber before steaming its way to the central China coastline, leaving $86,000 in the Port’s coffers.
Westerlund Log Handlers, which operates a log export facility on Pier 1, came to Astoria in 2010 amid much controversy over its potential effects on Astoria’s tourism and marine industries, but the company has labored along under the radar for nearly three years, quietly earning the Port nearly $1.9 million from 26 ships.
“It took a lot of work – a lot of meetings,” said Roger Nance, a Washington state banker who turned in his suit to help form Westerlund Log Handlers with partner Dave Westerlund in 2009. “It’s hard to come into a small community like this and tell somebody how you’re going to conduct business and have them believe you if they’ve been burned in the past. It’s taken some time, but over the last three years, I think we’ve demonstrated that we’ve done everything we said we were going to do.”
Nance said the entire operation employs between 70 and 80 people when a ship is being loaded, and 40 to 50 when one isn’t.
Mayor Willis Van Dusen was afraid that Westerlund’s log export project would hurt cruise ships, Englund Marine and Bornstein Seafoods, all staples of Astoria he helped to bring about. For those reasons and others, he, Jon Englund of Englund Marine, Jay Bornstein of Bornstein Seafoods and a host of other movers and shakers came out against the deal.
On April 27, 2010, the Port Commission voted unanimously to approve a five-year lease of 3.1 acres on Pier 1 to Westerlund Log Handlers for $11,208 per month – around $134,500 a year, in addition to the fees the Port earns from berthed log ships. In December of the same year, the Port modified the lease to include Pier 3, for which Westerlund pays $12,500 a month.
“I have now freely admitted I was wrong,” said Van Dusen about Westerlund. “It did not affect the cruise ships. In fact, the cruise guests like the log handling.”
Kurt Englund of Englund Marine & Industrial Supply worried about “the log yard from hell” causing the boatyard to shut down, hurting his and other marine businesses.
“All the concerns we had … we haven’t had any problems at all,” he said.