Business View Oceania - Mar 2024

trade opportunities to generate high and consistent returns for stakeholders, support the Australian economy, and solidify environmental best practices alongside sustainably managed forests. In the 38 years since their founding, the company has set up and maintained a plethora of plantation, processing, and logistics branches throughout Australia- managing over 60,000 hectares of plantation estate. Experience and regional spread allow Midway to manage Plantation Softwood, Plantation Hardwood, and mixed species Hardwood forests efficiently with ease, covering land selection, establishment, and maintenance through to harvest, processing, and distribution. Plantations are managed directly by Midway, and through its subsidiary, Plantation Management Partners, and contractors are engaged for harvest and haul of plantation products to processing and customer sites in Geelong (NSW), Brisbane (QLD), Portland (VIC), Port Melville (NT), and Western Australia. Midway exports FSC and PEFC certified woodfibre products from six different Eucalyptus species to Asian markets for use in the global pulp and paper industry. Tony Price is Managing Director at Midway. “Historically, the forestry sector would harvest their logs and leave residue to build up in the forest. Similarly, processing plants would dispose of fibre as waste and burn it. In the early 80’s, some local sawmillers gathered to explore their options for commercialisation, and they realised that woodfibre and woodchips could be potentially processed and exported. Through that group, Midway was born.We now directly employ around 250 staff and support well over a thousand external contractors and their employees; we have seen steady growth over the years from very humble beginnings in a market that didn’t really exist in Western Australia before us, so I’m very proud of that.” Mr. Price shares some of the industry challenges Midway has combatted over the years. “Forestry is a cyclical business, so there are downturns in demand that we have to deal with every so often. Our success also grows alongside that of our partners, clients, and suppliers, so the effects of things like natural disasters and the recent pandemic on markets we work in therefore affect us as well.” In rising 101 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 06, ISSUE 03 MIDWAY LTD