The latest catchcry by the Tasmanian Forestry industry diehards is that Tourism and woodchips can co-exist. This is particular to a proposed storage and export terminal concept in Hobart’s Macquarie wharf precinct.
One of the most misinformed statements coming from Forestry advocates is that woodchips are being exported from tourist-orientated city ports all around the world. Vancouver City in Canada was the notable example.
One only has to look at the image above to see that the Woodchip export facility in Vancouver is far across the bay from the city’s CBD and seemingly nowhere near any tourist destination. Even in Asia this is the case where grand piles of chips are located well outside any CBD or tourist attractions.
So the question remains how can these two opposed ethics in Hobart co-exist. Well in short they can’t, particularly in touristic epicentre of the city’s waterfront. Even if they hide the chip piles under cover there is the monumental issue of traffic movements and the congestive chaos with thousands of truck movements throughout the main city artery at the bottom of Davey St.
At the intended export of 1.5 miilion tonnes of chips per year, it has been estimated it would require 37,500 40-tonne truckloads a year, that is 103 trucks a day coming into and out of Hobart.
Woodchip economics, particularly profitable ones have never been a government objective, and the trend looks set to continue considering the liberals intens to process the chips somewhere well outside Hobart and double handle them to get them onto a waiting ship. At the moment it costs Forestry Tas (taxpayers) around $10 to produce a tonne of chips; not including the loss of any potential royalties. This amount is destined to increase if they choose their preferred export model.
The Liberals will be expecting strong resentment and active protests with their push for the Macquarie wharf chip export. This is partly why they are so determined to pass new anti-demonstration legislation through ASAP.
The export of woodchips from Hobart’s waterfront is a log way from getting the green light, but in desperate times, and through future adversities, one can still expect to see this inane concept lingering on as the moribund Forest industry grapples for its frenzied survival.
