2017 International Forest Industries Magazines April May 2017 | Page 14

LOGGING & BIOMASS NEWS Drax bids to acquire two distressed US pellet plants Drax has been notified that the sellers of Texas Pellets and Louisiana Pellets have delayed the processes for the sale out of bankruptcy of these assets, originally scheduled for 1 and 2 March. It is expected that these processes will continue during March. Drax previously notified the market of its participation in these processes and had submitted initial cash bids for the operating assets of Texas Pellets and Louisiana Pellets. Drax remains an interested party in the acquisition of these assets. Drax has indicated its intention to expand its self- supply compressed wood pellet operations to support 20-30% of its generation requirement. Texas Pellets, Inc. and German Pellets Texas, LLC and Louisiana Pellets, Inc. and German Pellets Louisiana, LLC are currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy processes in the United States and are seeking purchasers for substantially all of their assets Fibria starts construction on intermodal terminal Fibria has started construction on an intermodal terminal located in Aparecida do Taboado, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, which will ship the pulp produced at its new plant in Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul to the Macuco Terminal at the Port of Santos in São Paulo, from where it will be exported to clients in Asia, Europe and the United States The intermodal terminal will have annual pulp shipment capacity of 1.95 million tons. Construction is slated to be concluded in July 2017. The startup of Fibria’s second pulp production line in Três Lagoas is scheduled for early in the 4Q 2017. Fibria’s investment in the new Aparecida do Taboado Intermodal Terminal is included in the overall amount, of R$7.5 billion ($2.4 billion), to be invested in the Horizonte 2 Project. The term