“This is the third year since our NPA Geocell installation was completed in our log deck and yard storage areas. These are high traffic areas that tend to drive the winter frost very deep. The system continues to maintain its integrity during spring thaw allowing continued usage and access to all inventories with no disruptions to our production process. We are extremely pleased with its performance and cost savings”.
For many years the Canfor’s Fort St. John mill battled extreme muddy and contaminated soil conditions. As a result, 988 Cat mobile loaders were unable to transfer logs to the mill during spring and fall seasons resulting in disruptions to lumber production. Stratum engineered, designed and supervised construction of a turn-key soil reinforcement solution for Canfor's log yard storage and transfer areas.
The multi-million dollar project eliminated all downtime related to soil conditions affecting log supply; improving mill production, employee morale, safety and reducing mobile equipment operating costs. Estimated cost savings exceed $1.0M/year.

"During summer 2015, I visited the Canfor Mill in Fort Saint-John, BC, to gain an understanding of the mechanical behavior of the NPA (Neoloy) geocell reinforced structures. Under the supervision of Wayne Hotte, yard supervisor for Canfor, I met with Mark Stuckey of Stratum Logics (Engineering Design and Construction Supervision) and Derek Breault Paradox Access Solutions, (Installation Contractor) to identify the drainage systems, choice of materials, layer thicknesses for the structures, NPA geocell design and installation process.
This visit was very successful as the perforated NPA geocell is a very interesting product for many road engineering practices, specifically in areas where access to decent construction materials and/or weak subgrades can be a challenge. The sub structure bearing capacity seemed to have increased tremendously and the drainage systems seemed to be working quite well."
*FPInnovations is a Canadian non-profit member organization which carries out scientific research and technology transfer for the Canadian forest industry.