By Wednesday afternoon, the fire at the woodchip mound where it all began was almost totally extinguished thanks to the powerful Rural Metro Jo’burg fire tender.

NCT is counting the cost of Saturday’s fierce fire that continues to consume the remnants of its woodchip stockpiles…and it runs into billions of rands. While the co-op has pledged to rebuild the mill and to protect the jobs of its 180 Richards Bay employees, the picture remains a dismal one. “Loss of business is grave for us. We have turned away vessels right outside the port and one en route from China,” NCT Forestry Co-operative Ltd general manager Danny Knoesen told the Zululand Observer. “We estimate the stock loss of logs and woodchips to be around 180 000 tons. It is likely that we will not be able to service more than 10 vessels in the coming months.

Read the Article from the Zululand Observer by clicking the button below.