Ocean Terminals Log Export Facility loading the Jamaica Bay

This video has two sections 1) showing the cargo ship Jamaica Bay, 2) shows various views of the log yard and equipment in operation. Ocean Terminals Co. is located in North Bend, Oregon USA. They are primarily involved in staging logs and then loading them onto bulk cargo ships for export to China. The economics of log export change quickly but for now have been strong enough to bring a steady supply of ships to the Port of Coos Bay. Ocean Terminals is locally owned and provides a solid boost to the local economy. Douglas Fir logs are plentiful in this area, which is one of the better locations on this earth for their growth. We have massive amounts of commercial and private timberland, along with state and local woodlands. The public properties tend to be underutilized thanks to being held up with lawsuits over environmental issues, so most harvesting comes from the commercial and private landowner stands. The smaller to mid size logs are typically used as they are the most available. Economics and regulations drive those decisions, essentially eliminating larger logs from being harvested. The loggers, the equipment, and the mills are mostly equipped for the smaller logs to the point that few of them are prepared for larger logs even if they were available. This video shows log stackers, bucket loaders, log loaders, cranes and other equipment as they prepare the logs for shipping. The essential process is that log trucks deliver logs to the facility where they are stacked. The logs then move to a conveyor system where the bark is removed. And then the clean logs are stacked in a staging area near the dock. Equipment then loads the logs onto semi trucks that haul the logs to the dock where the ship's cranes will hoist up a truck load of logs at a time. There is no trimming of the logs, as they arrive already cut to the proper length. There is very little processing once they arrive at the log yard. Unfortunately, the ship was not being loaded and so I did not get any shots of the logs actually being moved onto the ship. I'll have to get that another day. It looked like they had depleted all the prepped logs and were waiting for the supply to build back up again to finish loading. Or the ship was full and they were waiting to be buttoned up and head out. Either way, I'll make another video showing that as it should be very interesting. Video was taken with a Panasonic HC-V700M and was done in November 2013. Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoy the film.