Found an interesting heating article today, with a mention of wood pellets from a familiar name. Expect tight supply of heating oil, K1 kerosene this winter - Lewiston Sun Journal Expect tight supply of heating oil, K1 kerosene this winter - Lewiston Sun Journal "Robert Linkletter is the owner of Maine Woods Pellet Co. in Athens. He said his advice to pellet users is secure a backup source or get extra pellets before the end of November or December at the latest. His company is among the largest suppliers of wood pellets in Maine. “We’re doing everything in our power to meet demand,” Linkletter said. But the fact is they are falling behind this year for several reasons. Normally, Maine Woods Pellet cranks out 100,000 to 120,000 tons of pellets a year, but Linkletter said they’ll be lucky to reach 100,000 tons. The primary reason is staffing, or the lack thereof. Parts for machinery are harder to source and subject to availability and finally there’s a lack of pallets used to transport and store the wood pellets. Linkletter said pallet makers are facing staffing shortages and cannot keep up with demand. He said he has to source them from Connecticut and Rhode Island and bring them to Maine."
The pellet companies probably have a huge opportunity for sales growth, but supply chains are still a problem.
Thanks for sharing, I'm seeing evidence of the supply issues in this area. All the pellet shops have very limited stock, kinda scary given it's only mid-October.
When Art is worried, that means something. I had to move my large pallet of pellets (7 bag rows instead of 5 bags) out of the basement for some electrical work. I have about 8 tons right now (most in the garage but still about a ton in the basement). That is enough for my needs this winter, but shortages tend to stack up over a couple of years. Even if the supply chain and labor shortages instantly went away, catching up to what has already not been produced is tough. Once I can put that large pallet back in my basement and thus move ~1.5 tons out of the garage, I might have to go get another ton and keep refilling as I use each ton. I really don't want to do that as it basically makes my garage unusable for anything else, and I need to get some repairs done on the concrete floor, but I also like to be prepared.
Thanks for posting! Very interesting to hear about the pallet shortage. Yet another issue to complicate things. Guess I better order sooner than later.
Yes. By brother lives near Bradley airport, near a pellet yard. They were very thin, even out, of certain brands. Haven't seen it like this in October, usually only the dead of winter or later. So demand has stripped supply months ahead.
even if you have the pallets -freight is another concern. To add to all of this is overseas demand as well.
Read 600+ Euros a ton in Europe. Going to be burning everything not nailed down. I think many cities and dense populated areas will get a genuine reminder of the "old days" of SMOG and smoky inversion days. Will prove how clean gas & modern emissions standards are. Example, you never see the San Francisco Golden gate smoged in like in the 70-80's.
Good advice! Have to do a little rearranging of the garage storage. I’ll text you a pic of the reason.
