The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A timber harvester expects to begin log hauling this week, its principal telling Tribune Business yesterday that the company was looking to tap into the ‘niche’ market for high-end wood products and sell wood flooring at the outset.

“We’re going to be hauling logs in Abaco the balance of this week and the early part of next week. We’re moving logs to the sawmill site this week and next week, and hoping to start sawing the week of October 21-26,” said Rob Roman, the principal of Lindar Industries.

“We will be moving between 200-300 logs. We’re hoping to move two to three loads this week. After we’re done hauling we will start cutting on site.”

Lindar Industries took hold of a lease for 6,746 acres of pine forest, situated on Crown Land in Abaco, from the Ministry of the Environment back in 2011.

However, it lost a year of production after vandals damaged the company’s equipment. Lindar Industries has now been granted a five-year renewable timber-harvesting license.

“Once we saw, then we have to dry or cur,e which removes the moisture out of the lumber. We do that with the dehydration kiln for 21-26 days. Once that’s complete the wood is edged in case it’s a little crooked,” said Mr Roman.

“We cut it straight one more time, and then it goes into the planing process, where it’s planed into the finished product.

“All we’re doing right now is hard-wood flooring. There’s a lot of interest in it. I think if you look at both the domestic and export market, which is what we’re looking at, the market is probably larger than what we can produce 100 times over.

“We’re looking at a niche market where people are looking for high-end products because the pine here is a rare high-end wood. That’s kind of a niche market that we’re looking at.”