PORTLAND, Ore. - Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated (“Erickson”) has further cemented its position as the timber heavy lift service provider of choice in Canada, signing contracts with Helifor Canada (“Helifor”), an affiliate of Columbia Helicopters, and Western Forest Products Inc. (“Western”). For each of the two contracts, Erickson, which manufactures and maintains a fleet of S-64 heavy lift rotorcraft, will be providing one S-64E model helicopter – capable of lifting up to 20,000 pounds at a time – with pilots, full field maintenance support crews, parts, and components.

Erickson will be providing Helifor with logging services and transmission tower construction in western Canada, primarily in British Columbia. The contract is effective from January 1 through December 31 of 2013, has a value of $8-to-$10 million, and will be supported by Erickson affiliate Canadian Air-Crane. “This will be the third consecutive year that Erickson has contracted with Helifor to provide heavy lift aerial services in Canada, and we are pleased to continue the relationship,” said Erickson CEO Udo Rieder.

The Aircrane will be used to remove timber in remote, rugged terrain in coastal British Columbia, as an environmentally responsible alternative to incursive ground logging. Erickson will additionally provide expert lift services for precision placement of transmission towers for powerline construction in western Canada.

With Western, Erickson is also renewing an agreement that was operational in 2012, and the new agreement is valued at $10-to-$13 million, Erickson will provide aerial support for year-round selective logging efforts in British Columbia and Alberta. The S-64E will be used primarily for extraction of fir and red cedar trees in difficult terrain on remote timberlands. “Western Forest Products is one of the largest timber companies in Canada, and this agreement continues an existing, multi-year relationship between Erickson and Western,’ added Rieder.

“These two contracts maintain Erickson’s position as the leading heavy-lift helicopter provider to the Canadian timber markets, where we’ve been operating continuously for nearly forty years,” continued Rieder.

Source: Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated