Plywood Pushing Port To Record

By JEANNE RIDGWAY

Courier-Post Staff

CAMDEN

A giant crane slung crates of plywood over the side of a cargo ship and onto the dock where waiting stevedores scooped up the wood with forklifts and whisked it away.

Steamship Maroudio sailed up the Delaware River on Thursday to deliver more than 17,400 tons of plywood to the South Jersey Port Corp.'s Broadway Terminal.

Sweating in the hot sun Friday, dock workers tried to make a dent in their work to unload 18,278 crates from the ship. The job will take between four and five days, according to Jay Jones, deputy executive director of the South Jersey Port Corp. "The shipment is the largest load of plywood ever received by the Port of Camden," said Jones.

Increasing plywood imports are part of the reason the Camden port is on pace to break a record for cargo this year, according to Joseph A. Balzano, executive director. Last year, the port received cargo totaling 3.5 million tons.

Wood products coming into the port from January through July increased more than 20 percent over the same period last year, he said. "The arrival of the Maroudio underscores the vitality of the Port of Camden and its position as the number one plywood port in the United States," said Balzano.

Plywood importer John Chaffin said the huge shipment does not mean the construction industry is about to soar. "I wish it meant that things were taking off like wildfire, but that's not the case," said Chaffin, of Liberty Woods International Inc., the nation's largest importer of plywood and one of the port's biggest clients. "The plywood we bring in is not utilized strictly for new home building, but for things like kitchen cabinets," said Chaffin, who is executive vice president of the company, based in Carlsbad, Calif. "Yes, it's a large shipment, but it's a typical shipment for Liberty Woods International," according to Chaffin.

Liberty Woods International plans to sell the product to 1,500 customers throughout the United States. Imported from Malaysia and Indonesia, the plywood is destined for outlets from Maine to North Carolina and as far west as Minnesota.

The South Jersey Port Corporation, an agency of the state, owns, operates and manages the Ports of Camden and Salem.