Good news for the industry, Arauco has resumed operations at many facilities.  The below message is from Mark Young of Arauco (Atlanta Offices), March 17th:

“Beginning this week, Arauco has resumed the operation of the following industrial facilities:

Sawmills: Of the seven sawmills that will operate in Chile, five are operating – Valdivia, El Cruce, Vinales, Nueva Aldea and Cholguán.

Remanufacturing Plants: Of the five remanufacturing plants, four are operating – Vinales, Valdivia and 2 in Cholguán.

Panels Plants: Of the four, two have initiated their operations:  Trupán has begun a line of MDF, and Nueva Aldea has started up two lines of plywood.

The Arauco energy plant in Nueva Aldea has initiated its operations, and is producing electrical power for the grid  – Sistema Interconectado Central (SIC).   The Arauco Valdivia energy plant is operating providing electrical power for the grid as well

Pulp: The five pulp plants continue the process of accessing damages and are working to standardize their operations for start up.

Ports:  Activity has begun in the ports. San Vicente is loading containers, Lirquen has loaded a Break Bulk Vessel for Mexico and the port of Coronel is preparing a container vessel to be loaded beginning on March 20th.

Arauco continues to support the numerous relief efforts to aid its employees and their families, as well as the affected communities.

In a joint effort with the communities, machinery was made available to clear the streets and highways and to provide basic services. Additionally,  land was donated for the temporary installation of one thousand emergency homes.

As the surrounding communities, our employees and their families work to resume their daily lives, the company will now focus on the remaining industrial sites which will mainly consist of debris removal and cleaning and repairing the affected production facilities to get them back on their feet.

Please visit  http://www.arauco.cl for additional updates.”