20-year Anniversary of North American Industrial Wood Pellet Exports

Twenty years ago on April 6th 1998, the first trans-ocean bulk shipment of wood pellets from North America, which were carried on the Mandarin Moon, arrived and began discharging 15,000 metric tonnes of wood pellets at the port of Helsingborg, Sweden.

FutureMetrics' partner and operations expert, John Swaan, entered into the first off-take agreement for bulk pellet delivery from north America, produced the pellets at his pellet plant in Prince George, B.C., and loaded the ship in Prince Rupert, B.C., on Feb. 9, 1998. After a long transit from the west coast of Canada to Europe, the ship was unloaded in Helsingborg, Sweden for use as fuel by Helsingborg Energi.

John was the pioneer in what is now a rapidly growing industry that in 2018 will use about 21 million tonnes of wood pellets. A significant proportion of those pellets are shipped from north America. 

FutureMetrics is proud to have John Swaan as a part of our team for the last six years. John's many decades of experience and the knowledge he has accrued is an asset for anyone seeking world-class pellet plant operations. John will help existing or developing projects understand how to maximize production at optimal costs while maintaining consistent high quality output with minimal risk to operators and equipment.