Beyond Cement: Canadian Sand from CAL Sechelt Pit Takes a Voyage to a Golf Course in Hawaii

The new deep-sea loading facility at Construction Aggregates Ltd. (Lehigh Northwest, British Columbia) received some complimentary publicity last fall, when the culmination of years of planning and expansion opened up California markets, to which they can now supply aggregates by ocean-going vessels.

As of January 23, 2002, CAL can add an even more exotic port to the list of destinations for its products. That is when the ship Skaustrand loaded 16,824 metric tons of USGA sand from Sechelt, bound for a golf course in Kekaha, Hawaii, on the big island near Waikoloa. The buyer, Keauhou Kona Construction Corp., is building a private course for the Charles Schwab Group. The sand will be used for the construction of greens and tee boxes, and will also be featured in the bunkers. The journey to Kawaihae Harbour takes approximately two weeks, and it takes about 4 days to off-load the ship.

Most of the golf course sand in Hawaii has come from Australia or China in the past. This is the first Canadian sand to head to the Hawaiian Islands. CAL sales representative Ken Downes notes that the USGA sand is a particularly hard specification to meet, but with the help of Jason Quinn and Chuck Cookney at the Sechelt operation, they have produced the best sand in huge volume with 100% success.

There are two other courses planned, and CAL hopes to supply specialty sand for them as well. However, a main interest in this new market is to supply up to 200,000 metric tons of concrete sand per year. "Putting in a shiploader at Sechelt to open up the California market has allowed us to look farther away into other areas," Downes said, "and now the Pacific Rim is our marketplace."

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