Tropical hardwood’s status as the prime material for European marine applications has been increasingly challenged by alternatives; steel, concrete, recycled plastics, wood-plastic composites, temperate timber species and increasingly, for sea defences, rock armour.
Some feel that poor popular environmental image – due in no small part to lack of awareness of the availability of verified sustainable material – and also the EU Timber Regulation have also increased trade, end-user and specifier risk aversion and helped incentivise use of substitutes.
Despite this, according to comments from the EU trade, tropical timber is still holding its own in the market. It remains a material of choice for sea defences where aesthetics and use of the coast as a public amenity is a priority.
Many specifiers still acknowledge its unique technical performance benefits and its environmental profile is also being improved, albeit slowly, by growing understanding and market recognition of its carbon and life cycle credentials.
However, it is also accepted that the trade cannot be complacent. This is a highly lucrative product area that is potentially set to grow more significant if, as some predict, climate change creates more extreme weather patterns, but the consensus is that it is also likely to become ever more demanding in terms of specification and increasingly competitive.
There are signs that the industry is responding to market developments and challenges. In particular in the Netherlands – arguably Europe’s leading exponent of wood use in marine and broader civil engineering applications – where an action plan is under way to drive timber uptake.
There has also been growing activity to raise awareness in the marine market of the potential of lesser-known tropical timber species (LKTS). The aim is to both relieve pressure on the most popular species, notably ekki/azobe and greenheart, and to increase the palette of materials available to specifiers.
At the same time, say researchers, this area urgently requires increased funding from the timber sector to generate the performance data needed if these varieties are to make progress and help combat the advance of rival materials.
Market growth
Trade feedback is that the European marine products market this year has actually been steady to slowly growing, reflecting wider economic growth and increased government spending on infrastructure projects generally.
One UK buyer commented that some of the country’s public agencies have migrated away from tropical timber and that the UK Environment Agency (EA), which has a measure of control in public marine project materials specification, favours recycled timber over virgin. They added that the EA also insists personnel make an “exhaustive business case” for using tropical timber.
However another importer maintained that the agency still regards it as one of the foremost marine materials, pointing to its guidelines for use of lesser-known species to highlight its overall pragmatic approach. “Ultimately,” the guidelines state, “the decision about [timber] use depends on a mixture of technical, environmental and commercial considerations.”
Certification priorities
The preference for European public projects, said suppliers, is overwhelmingly for third party certified timber, which in the marine market means FSC-certified. But it is reported that other forms of proof of sustainability and legality are accepted where certified is not available. And interestingly, one importer/ producer noted a change here since the introduction of the EUTR.
“We’ve seen a marginal decrease in certification requirements, with more customers accepting solely EUTR compliant, legally verified timber,” they said.
At the same time, FSC-certification can still clearly act as a ‘passport’ into the European market, as demonstrated by increased interest in Guyanese greenheart since the Iwokrama Forest was certified last year.
“[Guyanan supply] has not been entirely smooth, but there has been interest in its certified offering, especially in the UK public sector where lack of certification had impacted demand,” said a Dutch importer.
On other effects of the EUTR, one importer said it had in some cases made marine-use tropical timber a more difficult sell by “generally raising concern about its legality”. Others did not wholly agree, but several commented that it had narrowed the supply base. “No single country has dropped out of the market due to EUTR, but individual suppliers in several countries have been unable or unwilling to meet European due diligence requirements,” one company said.
Whether related to the EUTR or not is unclear, but another importer also said there had been a decline in the number mills in Europe cutting tropical marine hardwoods. “You can count them on one hand,” they said.
As for prices, the trend is reported to be strongly upwards. This, said importers, is in line with wood prices generally and largely the result of increasing global demand. Also implicated, however, are increased freight rates, logistical difficulties and, said one company, “the burden of paperwork required [of suppliers] under the EUTR and third party certification”.
Dutch development strategy
It’s against this background that leading hardwood companies in the Netherlands, all members of the VVNH trade association and in conjunction with timber market development and research organisation Centrum Hout, decided last year to launch their promotion and educational campaign. Their core aim is to increase uptake of tropical timber in marine/hydraulic and wider civil engineering applications.
The inspiration for the ‘Wood in GWW’ (Grond Weg in Waterbouw) initiative was partly the result of earlier environmental impact and LCA evaluation of tropical species. The research was led by VVNH and backed by the European Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition. LCA work was done by Ernst & Young and independently verified by Stichting Houtresearch.
The project compared sustainability ratings of waterway pile planking in azobe, okan and angelim and compared them with planking in steel and plastic. The results came out strongly in favour of wood and the report recommended “more extensive third-party verified LCA to endorse timber pile planking’s environmental benefits”. Subsequently the 12 Dutch businesses decided to take this work forward and develop a wider promotional and marketing initiative.
Among Wood in GWW activities to date have been presentations to leading civil engineers and contractors.
“The campaign has also increased interest in use of wood for civil works at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management,” said Centrum Hout’s Eric de Munck. “One of its responsibilities is implementation of a circular economic model in the Netherlands. This now includes several projects to see how wood can help reduce CO2 emissions in government infrastructure projects.”
Wood in the GWW has its own website (www.houtindegww.nl) and has developed a tropical species carbon calculator, which has now been launched in English, German and French versions (www.opslagCO2inhout. nl/en).
The campaign supporters have now decided to take it forward for another two years. Plans include increased targeting of local and central government specifiers, “development of circular [economy] business models” and further LCAs on timber pile planking.
Meanwhile, efforts to increase uptake of lesser-known species have come not just from the industry, but also from NGOs and the FSC, notably FSC Denmark and Netherlands.
One importer commented that popular ekki and greenheart were often specified through tradition or for convenience in associated works alongside projects in these species where their properties are not needed.
“Specifying timber more in ‘fit-for-purpose’ terms, would lead to development of a more diverse timber trade, in turn supporting sustainable forestry, improving prices and fully utilising producer sawmills’ capacity,” said a company spokesperson.
Basralocus, opepe, okan, eveuss and massaranduba are among the species importers said they were highlighting for marine construction.
Since launching its STTC-backed lesserknown timber species website in 2016, FSC Denmark also reports increasing visitor traffic (www.lesserknowntimberspecies). And prominent on the site are case studies of marine applications of such varieties as bilinga, massaranduba and basralocus.
In the UK there is also a 25-year public/ private partnership project, the Pevensey Bay Sea Defence scheme, to evaluate tropical species such as purpleheart and eveuss, alongside plastic composite.
Specialist in the field, Dr John Williams, principal consultant (materials and structures) at international environmental consultancy RSK, believes there is considerably more scope for developing the range of tropical hardwoods used in marine applications.
“As the STTC concluded in its report on Suriname and the potential of its lesser-used species, if we use more of this material, responsibly sourced, it adds to the value of the forest and incentivises sustainable management,” he said.
However, he added, what is needed to achieve this is more testing and performance data, especially strength testing of timber for sea defences.
Dr Williams has worked with Portsmouth University on accelerated trials for marine timber abrasion and shipworm resistance. He is also involved in developing alternative proofs to the European standard D class system for timber structural strength.
Research requires funding, however, and Dr Williams suggested that more should come from the timber industry. He also maintained that now is the time to act, particularly due to growing concerns about marine plastic pollution.
“The industry has to provide the data to make it straightforward for specifiers to choose timber for this work. If it isn’t and given the level of competition in the market, there may come a point where they lose patience with wood and switch to alternatives,” he said. “Timber has a huge opportunity here, but it needs a joined up, collective effort to be realised.”
