Baltic state timber companies claim they are now investing heavily in setting up professional timber preservation operations. In a number of cases, treated products for Europe are said to be ahead of impending EU legislation and have already moved, or are moving towards, new copper-based treatments.
In Latvia, a number of organisations are working together to introduce new treatment standards for the local market. High pressure impregnation started in the country in the 90s in response to rising demand in the UK and European demand for fencing products. Initially most bought second-hand equipment, but today many have state-of-the-art technology. Around 20 companies offer high pressure impregnation treatment, but the number is growing annually.
The past three years have seen a sharp surge in the development of the timber treatment sector. Some companies have been established which specialise solely in chemical treatment and these have invested heavily in environmentally-friendly technologies that give quality high pressure impregnation that meets all the standards of countries using Latvian timber, and other standard requirements as well.
Investment
During the past two years, the 10 largest timber chemical treatment companies have invested around €1.8m in facilities. The biggest, BSW Latvia Ltd, Nelss Ltd and RESA Ltd, have invested €1.2m in high pressure impregnation.
As 80% of all Latvian timber is exported, timber chemical treatment is carried out according to the requirements of the end consumer.
In response to the rise of timber use in building and fencing in Latvia, the biggest timber chemical treatment companies are co-operating on a project to create regulations for the domestic market. This covers the whole chemical treatment process, starting from the establishment of quality requirements for timber treatment chemical products through to actually using it in timber treatment. Environmental considerations are also being taken into account.
The working group which has been analysing the situation has so far concluded: that Latvia has adopted several standards, including 28 EU standards; that standards regulating timber treatment are outdated and need to be changed urgently; and that some areas are not regulated at all.
Modernising standards
Taking these factors into account, the Latvian Timber Exporters’ Association (LTEA) in co-operation with the Ministry of Economics, the Republic of Latvia, environment institutions, the Latvian state institute of wood chemistry and others, has started work on the modernisation and adaptation of standards. A schedule for this will be published shortly.
The LTEA said that the quality of export products should not be affected by the fact that there are not standards regulating domestic market needs.
However, Arturs Veispals, director of local distributor and preservative stockist Jaunzeltini Sia, warned: “Of course this relies on one condition – that product purchasers do not lower their quality demands to their provider and then offer the product as something of higher quality.”
One company that has invested in pressure treatment is joint stock company Baltic Sea Port (BSP). It was established in 1994 but after five years in the stevedoring business it realised it would better meet the needs of clients if it diversified its services.
The first step, in August 2000, was to invest in a kiln. The sawn timber is processed in a HEMCO kiln drier with two separate chambers and a capacity of 80,000m3 a year. Twelve months later BSP began to offer CCA high pressure impregnation services – the result of a US$145,000 investment.
Marketing manager Ieva Strazdina said: “The main thinking behind the investment was to reduce transportation costs for our clients. They can bring their cargo to our site where we carry out the necessary treatment and load the cargo straight onto the vessel.”
Services include sawn timber “antiseptic” dipping (Sinesto B); high pressure impregnation (Osmose – CCA); sawn timber kiln drying; and machine stress grading to C16, C24 and TR26.
On average each month the company treats 3,000m3 of sawn timber through antiseptic dipping, 3,000m3 through high pressure impregnation, and kiln dries 3,500m3 of sawn timber.
BSW Latvia Sia, wholly-owned by BSW Timber, has one of the biggest pressure impregnation plants in Europe at its Riga sawmill. The mill, which came on stream in 2000, has an output of 115,000m3 of sawn timber a year.
BSW chief executive Paul Barham said that one of the fundamentals to the success of the mill was to have the most modern and sophisticated treatment capability supplying timber treated to the highest standards. “Our Danish-made Iwotech plant has a 15m-long tilting pressure vessel which can accommodate 25m3 of sawn timber.”
The mill will treat in excess of 70,000m3 this year, including 15,000m3 of redwood decking.
BSW converted the plant from CCA to Osmose Naturewood in October 2002 and has been working with TRADA and wood preservative manufacturer Osmose to develop treatment schedules for a range of products including decking, tiling battens and carcassing timber.
Osmose is working with many of the companies in Latvia, providing engineering and technical support to help them treat wood products to the standards of the country to which they are sold.
