Tigercat has announced that Warren Nolan has been appointed to the position of product support representative for New Zealand.

Based in Papamoa Beach on the North Island, Warren is joining Tigercat with over thirty years of experience in the forestry industry. Warren started his career working for his fathers logging business then continued his career as a harvester owner-operator for 18 years.

“Along with Aaron Gregan, I am excited to add Warren to the support team for New Zealand. We continue to have many new and exciting opportunities for Tigercat machines in this area. As the field population continues to grow so does the importance of a top-notch support team,” explains Glen Marley, Tigercat District Manager for Australia and New Zealand.

Warren has experience in all aspects of logging, previously working for Satco Logging Attachments for six years as an operator trainer, applications specialist and product support representative. Warren has strong technical knowledge of Dasa 5 control systems based on his extensive work experience with these programs.

“Tigercat is one of the superior brands in the forestry world. If changes need to be made on a product Tigercat acts on it and always takes customer feedback to the highest standard. That is why I am excited to work for Tigercat,” Warren states.

Warren will be primarily involved with product support for Tigercat’s growing customer base on the North Island of New Zealand.

At their annual winter convention in January, the Truck Loggers Association in British Columbia invited their forests government ministers to share details for implementing the recommendations from the Contractor Sustainability Review recently completed in BC. This included the elimination of the fair market rate test from the timber harvesting contractor and sub-contractor regulations (known in BC as Bill 13).

The following details expand on Premier Horgan’s announcement yesterday. The Minister announced the details during his address to a full room of 350 timber harvesting contractors at the Truck Logger Association’s 76th annual Convention & Trade Show.

The fair market rate test is a forestry-industry method used to settle rate disputes between contractors and licensees, which have caused lengthy delays in reaching a settlement, contributing to the inability to operate sustainably their businesses. Following extensive consultation in an effort to ensure the forest industry continues operating, the government’s decision to eliminate the method in favour of models and experts will streamline the process that used to take months and years, which should now take up to a maximum of 14 days.

“Elimination of the fair market rate test is a monumental change for our industry, allowing contractors to more equitably share in the value of the timber resource,” says David Elstone, executive director of the Truck Loggers Association.

“It will result in a fundamental shift in the relationships between contractors and their employers across the province.”

Today, Minister Donaldson explained that a six-month process to make the legislative changes will involve continued industry stakeholder consultations, leading to implementation in the fall.

“As a contractor who operates under the Timber Harvesting Contractor and Sub Contractor regulation, these changes should have a direct impact on my business’ ability to be more sustainable,” says Rob Wood, President of Holbrook Dyson Logging in Campbell River. “While a small percentage of the industry operates under this regulation, I believe these changes will influence all non-Bill 13 contractors across the province as well.”

Source: TLA news release

Photo: David Elstone, executive director of the Truck Loggers Association.

Following the completion of the long-awaited Contractor Sustainability Review and its resulting recommendations, Premier Horgan announced a significant change to the Timber Harvesting Contractor and Sub-contractor regulation, which was the elimination of the fair market rate test. The Premier made his announcement during his address to a full room of 350 timber harvesting contractors at the Truck Logger Association’s 76th annual Convention & Trade Show.

“Today’s announcement is what we were hoping for and will result in a fundamental shift in the relationship between contractors and their employers across the province,” said David Elstone, executive director of the Truck Loggers Association. “Elimination of the fair market rate test is a monumental change for our industry, allowing contractors to more equitably share in the value of the timber resource.”

The Premier also made a commitment today to exploring solutions that the TLA has put forward to address the industry’s acute skilled labour shortage.

“After advocating for a training tax credit over the past three years, we are thrilled to hear this announcement,” said Elstone. “We are facing unprecedented retirement in the forest and logging industry, and even today there are far too many logging trucks and heavy equipment sitting idle due to the lack of experienced and competent operators. This may open up substantial opportunity for contractors’ needs for on-the-job training province- wide.”

Source: Wood Business

Nelson Forests’ acquisition of Manuka Island estate confirmed by Overseas Investment Office – OneFortyOne (OFO) has received confirmation that the Overseas Investment Office has approved Nelson Forests’ acquisition of Manuka Island estate in New Zealand. The completion date for the purchase will be mid-late February.

The Manuka Island estate, currently owned by Merrill and Ring, is approximately 2000 hectares of forest in the Wairau Valley near Blenheim.

“The Manuka Island acquisition reflects our intention to continue to invest in the regions where we have an established presence. The acquisition complements our recent purchase of Nelson Forests and is a great fit for their estate,” says OFO’s Chief Executive Officer, Linda Sewell.

“Manuka Island will be a natural extension of our existing operation,” says Lees Seymour, Managing Director of Nelson Forests. “We are excited about the employment and regional economic development opportunities that the purchase will provide for Marlborough, in addition to our strong presence at Kaituna sawmill and through our forest activities in the region.”

Photo: Lees Seymour, Managing Director of Nelson Forests

Intelligent boom control (IBC) is the unique boom control system developed by John Deere. It’s an intelligent control system with sensors that detect the positioning of the harvester head and algorithms that adjust the boom’s trajectory in one continuous motion. IBC also functions as a platform for the eventual and easy introduction of new features that facilitate the customer’s work.

“IBC brings significant advantages also in final fellings. Thanks to IBC, controlling the big and robust CH9 boom is just as easy and precise as in the smaller harvesters, and the boom can be operated at the same speed as the booms in the smaller harvester models. IBC facilitates the operator’s work and makes working more pleasant. There are fewer movements to make – and that helps with the operator’s working capacity. It’s a feature of the modern era,” says Marketing Manager Tommi Ekman.

Work is precise and smooth with intelligent boom control
In harvester work, the IBC’s operation has been designed to suit the machine’s work cycle. The boom’s trajectories and operation automatically adjust as the boom is taken to a tree and the load is in the harvester head. The operator doesn’t have to move the different sections of the boom individually. The boom is easy to use and precise at all boom reaches. Thanks to the electronic end damping, the boom operates softly. The blow-like loads at maximum reaches are eliminated, making the operator’s work more pleasant and decreasing the stress on the boom’s structures and hydraulic cylinders. IBC improves work ergonomics and guides the operator in the correct use of the boom, which is directly reflected in the increased productivity.

Intelligent Boom Control was introduced for John Deere forwarders in 2013. In 2017, John Deere introduced IBC first for the 1270G harvester and later the same year also for 1170G harvester. Now IBC will be available also for the 1470G harvester’s 11- and 10-meter CH9 booms used in final fellings.

The operator maneuvers the harvester head to a desired position and the system automatically adjusts the trajectories of the 1) lift, 2) slew, 3) extension and boom rotation for the optimal solution.

Photo: Marketing Manager Tommi Ekman.

The Swiss Wood Market Commission (HMK) met on January 16, this year for the first time with representatives from the Swiss Industrial Wood and Wood Energy sector. The Swiss wood market is still under the influence of beetle wood, according to the commission. The Swiss wood industry is still prepared to process beetle wood, but at the same time reports an increasing demand for fresh softwood. Depending on the weather, much additional beetle wood is expected starting this spring. Hardwood is in good demand. Both parties continue to rely on price stability.

Current economic situation

The Swiss sawmill industry was able to benefit from the good construction activity in Europe and Switzerland in 2018 and was working at full capacity or virtually full capacity throughout the year. Thanks to the extraordinarily high demand for sawn timber, a corresponding amount of beetle wood was cut, which brought the sawmills to their capacity limits. The Swiss forest owners, however, had to accept some significant yield losses due to the high percentage of damaged wood. To make matters worse, the limited export opportunities resulting from oversupply have also affected neighboring countries.

Market assessment for 2019

The market forecasts for 2019 are still positive, if not quite as rosy as in the previous year. The demand of the Swiss construction industry for wood products is estimated to be similarly solid for 2019 as in previous years. Beetle wood can only be taken up to a limited extent by the wood industry due to the still full warehouses and tends to fall in prices. On the other hand, many sawmills now report an increasing demand for fresh softwood. The demand for hardwood remains high, both for sawable roundwood (especially oak and ash) as well as for industrial and energy wood.

Recommendations

The demand of the Swiss wood industry for fresh wood in good qualities should be considered as far as possible, however only clearly agreed quantities on concrete orders, recommends the HMK. Forest owners should reduce the old forest camps as far as possible and use fresh wood until spring. Thus, from spring, fresh, high-quality beetle wood can be delivered directly to the sawmills. In order to contain the expected bark beetle calamity, the standing softwood in the forest must continue to be well monitored. Infested trees have to be removed from the stock for reasons of forest protection.

No new price agreements

Both parties agree that given the regionally different starting point and the uncertain beetle development, it makes no sense to issue new price recommendations. For fresh wood, price stability is still recommended, coupled with concrete quantity agreements, so that only the quantities and assortments that are effectively needed come onto the market.

The Wood Market Commission meets again on 25 June 2019 to reassess the situation.

Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal has announced that the State Government will undertake large scale reforestation to ensure wood supplies for industries in Sabah.

The aim is to create a resource base that will attract investors especially furniture makers in Peninsular Malaysia. Plans are being drawn up for planting a mixture of valuable hardwoods such as red seraya, meranti as well as fast growing timbers such as eucalyptus and acacia.

Shafie said the State Government would play a role in supplying wood for furniture manufacturing and priority would be given to furniture factories in order to encourage more high quality furniture manufacturers to Sabah.

In related news, the Sarawak Forest Department has announced they will begin a large-scale forest landscape restoration (FLR) programme this year. Director Hamden Mohammad said the priority is to plant indigenous species such as belian, meranti, keruing, selangan batu, engkabang, kapor and other local species on degraded areas within licensed harvesting areas. The state government has RM10 million for this initiative.

Photo: Sarawak Forest Department Director Hamden

In 2018, Logset Oy’s turnover grew to a record level of 40.128 million euros (2017: 30.922 million euros) and the operating profit to 1,671 million euros (2017: 0,935 million euros).

During the past year, the demand for Logset products remained high in Europe. The strongest growth, however, came from the Russian and South American markets. The demand for harvester heads exceeded all expectations, and the interest towards the hybrid harvester continued to grow. Forwarders remained the foundation of the sales. In 2018, Logset launched the first service products that increased the service turnover. At the end of 2018, the value of the order book reached a record 19,8 million euros (2017: 7,3 million euros).

In 2018, Logset not only focused on growth, but also on developing its operational activity. Purchasing was streamlined, which lowered the share of material costs of total turnover compared to the previous financial year. The stock turnover rate of materials, spare parts and second-hand machines was improved significantly, and the stock value in euro decreased from the previous year, despite the strong growth of financial turnover. A write-down was made in the material stock, and the stock value of second-hand machines was adjusted to correspond to a fair market price with a new valuation method.

Warranty costs and campaign overall costs were reduced due to better quality control in the production, and improved quality of the products. The share of direct labour costs of the total turnover developed in an unfavourable way, even though the number of sick leaves and occupational accidents was diminished. The whole forest machine industry suffered from poor availability of components, and it also affected Logset. Despite the strong growth and problems with parts availability, the company managed to deliver the machines within a reasonable timetable.

In 2018, Logset product development focused on the new Stage 5 products that meet the tightened emission regulations, the Smooth Ride cabin suspension, on improving the quality, and on developing new products to be launched in 2019.

At the end of 2018, Logset established a subsidiary named Logset Inc. in Canada. The new office will offer sales and technical support to Logset dealers and customers based in North and South America.

In 2018, Logset’s credit rating was raised to class A.

– Logset had a fantastic year. We advanced as planned in nearly all areas, and the results are plain to see. Thanks to the enhanced operational activity, a record order intake, and the continued high demand at the beginning of this year, the company is in a great shape for 2019, says Managing Director Jussi Malmi.

Actions to improve financial and operational performance will continue in 2019. In addition, the capacity of the factory will be increased. The new products and service solutions to be launched in 2019 are expected to further strengthen Logset’s market position.

In 2018, the Finnish forest industry enterprises procured 51.4 million m3 of roundwood from non-industrial private forests. The roundwood trade volumes increased by a fifth compared with 2017. Standing timber sales volume came up to 44.7 million m3 (+23% over the previous year), reports Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Roundwood trade was also very active in December 2018, when the Finnish forest industry enterprises harvested 5.2  million m3 roundwood from non-industrial, private forests.

In December 2018, the stumpage prices of roundwood started to decline. The stumpage price level was a little less than 0,5% lower than a month earlier. The stumpage price for pine logs came up to EUR 62.0 per cubic metre, the spruce log price was EUR 65.8 per cubic metre. The stumpage price for pine pulpwood was EUR 18.3 per cubic metre, while the price for spruce pulpwood was EUR 19.4 per cubic metre.

The harvesting method affects the stumpage price paid for roundwood. In December 2018, the price of logs harvested from regeneration fellings was 3% higher than the average stumpage price paid for logs (thinnings 14% below the average price).

In case of pulpwood, the stumpage price differences from the average by felling method were as follows: pulpwood from regeneration fellings +11%, from thinnings –7%, and from first thinnings –28%.

The roadside price for pine pulpwood was  EUR 31.8 per cubic metre. The price for spruce pulpwood was EUR 34.7 per cubic metre and for birch pulpwood 32.3 EUR per cubic metre. The roadside price level fell 1% from the previous month.