The San Group is determined to avoid the pain of another closing on Highway 4 and is building a specialized ramp to load containers on barges at Port Alberni’s deep-sea port.
When a seven-kilometre stretch of highway shut due to the Cameron Bluffs wildfire, that created a “very difficult” time for the company, Kamal Sanghera, an executive director at the San Group, said Friday.
“It just made us realize the reality” that the company depends too much on the highway which crosses Vancouver Island, he said.
“We can not depend on just one highway.”
San Group is based in Langley and runs mills on the mainland and in Port Alberni, where it has built a specialized plant turning out a variety of value-added wood products.
Because the highway section is closed due to the 229-hectare wildfire, the company is only able to move 25 to 30 per cent of its cargo out by using an alternate route on a gravel forest service road, he said.
San Group is making the infrastructure investment at the port of Port Alberni where it already holds a 50-year lease. It has been working with Catalyst (Paper Excellence) to find cargo options via the water to keep their operations running, he said.
Completing the ramp system will likely take about a month. “You can not just turn it on right away.”
The challenges facing the San Group, which supports 500 families in Port Alberni and another few hundred on the mainland, and other major businesses highlight the vulnerability on the west side of Highway 4.
It points to why restoring the E&N railway line is so critical for Vancouver Island, Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog said.
“If there was ever an argument for the railway again, you’re seeing it now in front of you.”
“This points clearly to the absolute necessity of restoring a rail service on the Island. Imagine if we had decent rail service when the Malahat was shut down, or now that Alberni is confined.”
The long-time rail advocate said, “It would cost a hell of a lot more to build an alternate highway route into Alberni than it would to restore the whole of the Island Corridor Foundation rail lines.”
Meanwhile, San Group is seeing costs almost double to move trucks along the alternate route. Trips are slower and more expensive.
Sanghera said it does not permit the usual number of trucks to carry supplies and products in and out of their operations.
Fewer trucks are able to make the four-hour trip and the bumps in the gravel road damage fragile products such as veneers, even if a truck is travelling at 10 kilometres per hour, he said.
The company is now experimenting by sandwiching the thin materials between more sturdy products in the trucks, Sanghera said.
Because of the high cost on the alternate route, wood chips, a byproduct of its huge operations in Port Alberni, are now accumulating in a pile at the port instead of being delivered to their normal destination at Crofton, he said.
One container already brought a delivery for Paper Excellence and a second container is expected this weekend. A Paper Excellence spokesperson could not be reached.
On Friday, the Cameron Bluffs wildfire was “held” meaning it was not growing. A total of 108 firefighters, three helicopters and four pieces of heavy machinery were working at the fire.
The Highway 4 section is expected to be open on the weekend of June 24 for single-lane, alternating traffic, with the province targeting mid-July for full opening.
Helijet announced Friday that it is starting weekday service between Nanaimo and Port Alberni on Monday because of the highway closure.
