China’s insatiable appetite for logs has pulled Vancouver Island’s port industry out of recession doldrums, providing more jobs for longshore workers than they’ve seen in two years.
Brett Hartley, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Workers Union branch on Vancouver Island, said the lumber business has picked up at Duke Point, but it’s unprocessed logs that remain the root of job growth. There have been more jobs for skilled longshore workers than the union has people available for. They’ve had to send for members from the Lower Mainland to fill positions, Hartley said.