Samling, Loggo IP to work on pilot project to develop engineered wood products in Sarawak

MIRI: Samling Timber Group yesterday announced it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Loggo IP Pty Ltd, an Australian developer of competitive Engineered Wood Products (EWP).

Samling in a press release said the MoU was signed by Group chief executive officer Lawrence Chia, and Loggo IP founder and managing director Pat Thornton.

“We will work together on a pilot project in Sarawak using Loggo IP’s patented engineered wood technology focused on a burgeoning forest recovery industry to develop small diameter true rounds or peeler cores.” said Chia.

Loggo IP uses planted wood species such as Acacia and Eucalyptus for building systems aimed at housing, commercial and government buildings, three-storey walk-ups, shop top housing as well as mid-rise, and multi-residential apartment blocks.

Chia explained that every year millions of peeler cores were produced as ‘waste’ from plywood production, and were largely used in lowvalue recovery options such as packaging and as fuel for thermal energy processes.

Thornton pointed out that as the world shortage of timber hits home, Loggo IP was convinced Samling, which has been long respected globally for its high standards of sustainable forest management, can develop these costcompetitive systems across Southeast Asia and beyond.

“However, in a world ‘first’, Loggo has developed and patented three versatile engineered wood products as well as columns and each can be made from low value forest ‘thinning’ or peeler cores. Two of these beams can use Samling’s ply as a web.

“Apart from the financial benefits, Loggo’s low-tech, minimal processing and setup costs and the economic advantage of these low-value plywood by-products is a green and sustainable way to increase returns,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) adviser Datu Hashim Bojet, after witnessing the MoU, said STIDC was very happy that the industry players were taking initiatives to develop EWP using planted wood in Sarawak.

“This is aligned with our vision to utilise more planted logs for high-value wood-based products like engineered wood. This is also in line with the state’s aspiration for the timber industry as one of the most important sectors to transform Sarawak into a developed state by 2030.

“We are confident that this MoU will allow Samling to progress from the initial stage of assessment to later manufacturing these highquality structural components, first for local and then for global markets. This effort is fully complementary with STIDC’s overall EWP vision which includes laminated veneer lumber (LVL), glued laminated (Glulam) and cross laminated timber (CLT) products,” he said.

Samling, under its sustainable forests mandate, manages around 1.2 million hectares of forest land and 190,250 hectares of gross plantable forest plantations in Malaysia.

Operating for more than 50 years, Samling is one of Malaysia’s largest timber companies, processing its own logs into sawn wood, plywood and veneers in an integrated, upstream and downstream operation.

In August 2023, Samling was presented the prestigious ‘Most Diversified and Value-Adding Timber Manufacturer’ award by STIDC.