The Biz Buzz

The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.

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Contributors

Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.

C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.

John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.

Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.

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Get the most up-to-date news, insights and analysis of Tacoma, Pierce County and South Puget Sound business.
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Posted by Kelly Kearsley @ 04:25:08 pm

Weyerhaeuser says it may sell its Westwood Shipping Line and four regional railroads, according to News Tribune news services.

The Westwood Shipping Line has four ships that carry forest products and containers to ports in Japan, Korea, China and North America, the Associated Press reports.

The railroads serve mills in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Washington.

In a statement Thursday, the company said it had not confirmed a timetable for completing what it calls an exploration of strategic alternatives as part of its asset restructuring, The Associated Press reports.

Bloomberg News says that Weyerhaeuser’s sales of units including fine-paper and industrial packaging have spurred speculation the company is moving to turn itself into a real estate investment trust to reduce taxes on profits from its 5.6 million acres of U.S. timberlands.

Divestitures “point in the direction of a REIT,” Longbow Research analyst Joshua Zaret said Thursday in a note to clients before the announcement.

Zaret said Weyerhaeuser Chief Executive Officer Daniel Fulton may provide more information about the company’s plans Friday at its annual gathering with investors in New York, Bloomberg reports.

The company agreed to sell its corrugated packaging and recycling businesses in March and last year spun off it fine-paper business.

Weyerhaeuser has closed mills and sold assets amid a slowdown in U.S. demand for lumber used in building construction and a slump in housing prices. Decreasing home construction and losses at its homebuilding unit led the company to report a worse-than-expected first-quarter loss of $148 million.

Categories: General, Labor