In 2021, the acquisition of the Dormit Sawmill and palletiser at Dandenong and the sawmill at Swifts Creek, saw Pentarch Forestry move into this space to be the primary manufacturer of pallets in Australia.
Operations at the Swifts Creek sawmill has now ceased, and the Dandenong palletising operation has been transferred to a new facility in Morwell, VIC.
All pallets produced at the Morwell facility are supplied to CHEP under their proprietary brand for domestic consumption.
The need for high-quality lumber used in hardwood pallets has also prompted innovation in log handling technology at Pentarch Forestry’s Allied Natural Wood Enterprises wood chip mill in Eden. A new log sorter, which extracts suitable lengths of sawlog from pulp logs to produce pallet components, was introduced at Eden and means more efficient use of our precious native timber resource.
As the timber supply chain evolves, so has Pentarch Forestry as we develop new ways of better utilising every part of every tree to create much needed timber and fibre products from our sustainable native timber sector.
Sawing
Timber sustainably sourced from our native forests is our most valuable and precious resource.
Primary Products
Hardwood pallets are produced by the Dandenong Palletiser, which is a four-station manufacturing process.
Secondary Products
Nothing is wasted from each log processed for pallets – industrial-grade lumber, sawdust, woodchip and mill fibre sent to third parties to produce packaging, paper, landscape supplies, animal bedding and biofuel.
Dandenong
The 3.85ha Dandenong South mill site has been in operation since 1989 and houses a sawmill and Australia’s largest pallet manufacturing plant employing 49 staff. It has a Telecant sawmill which squares smaller diameter logs and produces the bearers, intermediate and lead boards needed to produce a hardwood pallet.
Qualified timber graders visually check each piece of lumber for quality and strength to ensure only first-grade material is used in the fully automated four-station palletiser. At the palletiser, the lumber components are nailed together as per the set pallet specification, then painted and marked according to CHEP’s proprietary branding, at a rate of approximately 200 pallets per hours. The pallets, capable of supporting 2000kg, are then forwarded to CHEP for distribution.
Ph: 1800 818 317
Massy Greene Drive South Burnie, Tas, 7320 PO Box 3033 Ph: 03 6430 7333
Lot 2, Edrom Road Eden, NSW, 2551 Ph: 02 6496 0252
Eden Chip Export Terminal Edrom Road, Jews Head Eden, NSW, 2551 Ph: 02 6496 0222
420 Herons Creek Road Herons Creek, NSW, 2443 Ph: 02 6585 7188
43 Mill Road Koolkhan, NSW, 2460 PO Box 437 Ph: 02 6644 7280
13056 Summerland Way Kyogle, NSW, 2474 PO Box 187 Ph: 02 6632 1866
3/2 Akeringa Place Mooloolaba, Qld, 4557 PO Box 5561 Ph: 07 5447 8300
139 Firmins Lane Morwell, VIC, 3840 Ph: 03 9706 5744
148 Tweed Valley Way Murwillumbah, NSW, 2484 PO Box 56 Ph: 02 6670 8700
6016/6018 Princess Highway Narooma, NSW, 2546 PO Box 75 Ph: 02 4476 7908
176-178 Magill Road Norwood, SA, 5067 Ph: 1800 818 317
30 Link Road Pakenham, VIC, 3810 Ph: 1800 818 317
50 BTU Road South Nowra, NSW, 2541 PO Box 5014 Ph: 02 4447 8262
Level 1, 99 Coventry Street Southbank, Vic, 3006 Ph: 03 9621 7900
Great Alpine Road, Swifts Creek, Vic, 3896 Ph: 03 5159 4438
