The Teak story
Teak has proven for decades to be the most suitable type of wood for Yacht Decks. Already for more than a 100 years, this specie of wood originally comes from Southeast Asia. Until the middle of the last century a lot of that Teak came from Indonesia. This was the famous Java Teak that often was used for cruise ship decks. Also, a smaller quantity came
from Thailand. The Java Teak has unfortunately disappeared completely due to careless forest policies and in Thailand a felling ban on Teak was imposed in the middle of the last century. In the then politically isolated and then still closed Burma there were still many large Teakforests existing, due to the English establish Brandis Selection System. The Thai sawmills, with very experienced Teak sawmillers then started importing all their logs from Burma to make a nice export product from these logs in sawn timber. The Burmese became more and more experienced in cutting Teak and issued and export ban on Teak logs in 2014. All international buyers then turned to the Burmese sawmill productions. In the beginning the quality was not comparable with the quality of the Thai producers, but soon the Burmese had improved their quality.
For years, the export from Burma in various qualities sawn Teak has greatly enhanced. Unfortunately, this came to an end due to a military coup subsequently followed by the import ban in Europe.
Sustainable forest management
Royal Boogaerdt Timber has been working for a long time towards sustainable forest management in Thailand and Myanmar. But the military regime in Myanmar from before 2011 caused that no progress was made. In 2013, after the (Asian) democratic elections, in which Aung San Sue Kyi eventually won the majority, everything accelerated. Royal Boogaerdt Timber saw opportunities to support the nations in finding new possibilities towards legal and sustainable forest management and certification. Therefore they worked together with two well-known certification systems. In 2017 Royal Boogaerdt Timber succeeded in initiating a project to achieve demonstrable legality. This was a first big step and towards sustainably sourced timber, so sustainability was on the horizon. Fortunately, the Prince Albert II foundation from Monaco largely contributed to co-finance this expensive project. The aim was
that in four years it could prove that sustainably harvested certified wood could be exported.
Militairy Coup
However our dedication, for good forest management and the close relationship with the local community and the willingness to make positive changes, made that we were able to transform the supply chains. Despite the challenges of Covid 19, with all travel and communication restrictions Royal Boogaerdt Timber managed to import already in 2020 a parcel sustainably harvested Teak Timber, which was after arrival in Holland approved by the Competent Authorities. But unfortunately this was the last shipment to arrive from Myanmar
for now. we regret the current situation going on in Myanmar and sympathize with the people of Myanamar.
