Case study

Ireland → Iceland — woodchip supply-chain diligence

Assessment of Irish sawmill residuals for an Icelandic carbon-removal feedstock pathway, covering supplier origination, port selection, shipping class economics, GHG footprinting, phytosanitary limits and scale-up options.

Residual woodchip stockpile and loading trailer at an Irish supplier yard.
Irish sawmill residual woodchip stockpile reviewed as part of low-bark feedstock assessment.
At a glance
58
potential suppliers
12
face-to-face sawmill meetings
30,000
green metric tonnes Phase 1 case
150,000/y
green metric tonnes Phase 2 pathway

Challenge

Test whether Ireland could supply low-bark woodchip into an Icelandic carbon-removal feedstock pathway at meaningful scale, while satisfying technical specification, plant-health, sustainability, port, shipping and GHG requirements.

What we did

  • Identified 58 potential Irish wood-fibre suppliers across sawmills, forestry service firms, harvesting firms and chipping operators.
  • Held face-to-face meetings with 12 sawmills representing the majority of Irish sawmilling output.
  • Assessed sawmill residuals, forestry-service material and pulp-log pathways against bark-content, cost and GHG constraints.
  • Compared Irish port options including Galway, Foynes, Greenore, Passage West, Rushbrooke and others.
  • Modelled road haulage, port handling, ocean shipping and delivered GHG footprint to Iceland.
  • Reviewed sustainability certification and phytosanitary requirements for Icelandic import.
  • Developed scale-up logic for moving from small coaster shipments toward larger, lower-cost bulk movements.
Route logic
Irish originSawmill residualslow-bark feedstockSupplier screen58 potential suppliers12 sawmill meetingsspecification checksBulk port optionsFoynes, Greenore,Rushbrooke and othersIceland routePlant-health, GHGand scale-up logic
Clean route logic from Irish sawmill residuals through suitable bulk ports toward Icelandic import requirements.
Woodchip stockpiles at an Irish port-side yard.
Port-side woodchip storage and handling context used to test larger shipment pathways.

Key results

  • Confirmed that Irish sawmill residuals could meet the low-bark requirement more readily than chipped pulp logs.
  • Showed that small coaster shipments created a major delivered-cost and GHG penalty.
  • Identified larger Handy-sized shipments and suitable bulk ports as the better Phase 2 pathway.
  • Highlighted the value of reducing unnecessary movement of wet wood fibre.
  • Created a practical supplier, port and GHG decision framework for an Ireland-to-Iceland biomass pathway.

Outcome

A grounded supply-chain blueprint for low-bark Irish woodchip into Iceland: supplier base, port choices, shipping constraints, GHG footprint, phytosanitary route and scale-up logic. The work separated near-term supply complexity from longer-term practical routes and showed where the pathway could be made more efficient before procurement or investment decisions were taken.

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