Northern Pulp Mill Closure Continues to Negatively Impact Sawmill Operations in Nova Scotia

Since the closure of Paper Excellence Company’s Northern Pulp Mill located in New Glasgow, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, in January of 2020, local sawmill operators have seen their steady and ample supply of sawlogs continue to erode.

Local sawmill and trucking company owners’ operations stories all have a common theme: The loss of the pulp market has made woodlot harvesting less viable. Transporting wood products to the Northern Pulp mill costs far less and they paid better (rather than having to haul it all the way to Port Hawkesbury Paper), and fuel prices continue to spike higher.

Employees and even some family members have been forced to seek employment outside of sawmills and will not be returning.

Sawmill and trucking company operators all seem to have the same wishes, too. They wish the government and business could solve the impasse over forestry and the mill’s shutdown after the Boat Harbor effluent treatment facility closed, as was scheduled.