Baltania OÜ, a 100% owned subsidiary of Dutch private equity investment firm Momentum Capital, has made a conditional investment decision to commission an industrial scale torrefaction bio-coal plant in Vägari, Estonia. Value of the investment is approximately Euro 45 million. Providing, that all conditions of the investment decision are met, the construction of the bio-coal plant will start in 2Q 2018.

Baltania’s production will focus on torrefied bio-coal pellets produced from sustainable woody biomass. The bio-coal pellets can be used to partially or to fully replace fossil coal in electrical power or heat generation plants as a sustainable alternative without significant additional investment in plant conversion.

The energy density and grind-ability of renewable and sustainable bio-coal pellets are similar to thermal steam coal and significantly higher than that of white wood pellets or wood chips. This also means that logistic costs per tonne transported are significantly lower. The main customer base will consist of utility companies in Nordic countries and Central Europe.

The output capacity of the bio-coal plant will be approximately 160,000 tonnes of torrefied bio-coal pellets per annum.

Pöyry has been assigned to carry out a torrefaction project feasibility study on behalf of Baltania OÜ.

Again, after an incredibly busy year, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) has in conjunction with a wide cross section of industry on both sides of the Tasman, developed an Events Planner for next year. With again very high turnouts at all FIEA technology events that have been run this year, they are really excited with what 2018 holds.

The Events Planner will enable; forestry and wood products companies to pencil the dates into your own calendar for next year and industry associations, research organisations and those involved in setting up your own programmes for 2018 to take note of the dates (and ideally look to dovetail in to the tech events timing and location to add value to the industry and those likely to attend).

For product and service suppliers, they hope this forward planning will also enable you to schedule your involvement and to budget early on in the year to the relevant tech event and for overseas suppliers, it will enable you to lock in a time to plan visits to your key customers or distributors in Australia and New Zealand and to link in to the relevant technology events in this part of the world next year.

FIEA forestry or wood products technology events being planned for 2018 include;

Woodflow 2018 20-21 June 2018, Melbourne, Australia 26-27 June 2018, Rotorua, New Zealand www.woodflow.events
Forest Industry Safety & Technology Conference 8 August 2018, Rotorua, New Zealand 15 August 2018, Melbourne, Australia www.forestsafety.events
WoodTECH 2018 – Wood Manufacturing Dry-mill Scanning, Wood Machining, Timber Manufacturing 11-12 September 2018, Melbourne, Australia 18-19 September 2018, Rotorua, New Zealand www.woodtech.events
ForestTECH 2018 Data Collection & Management – Remote Sensing – Mobile Communications & GIS 14-15 November 2018, Rotorua, New Zealand 20-21 November 2018, Melbourne, Australia www.foresttech.events

Other forestry technology events being planned include;

ForestTECHx 6-7 March 2018, Vancouver, Canada www.foresttechx.events
MobileTECH 2018 Primary Industries – Innovation through Smart Data 27-28 March, Rotorua, New Zealand www.mobileTECH.events

Mark the dates into your 2018 calendars. At this early stage, if interested in either presenting or exhibiting, let FIEA know early on and if appropriate, they can look to build you into the planned programmes.

Attached for your information is a PDF of 2018 Technology Events which provides you with further information on the schedule of tech events planned for next year.

At the just completed ForestTECH 2017 series, major forestry companies in both New Zealand and Australia reported how they are investing heavily in drones, training in-company pilots and using the technology operationally across their estates.

Timberlands who manage >200,000ha plantation forests in the CNI of New Zealand including the Kaingaroa estate already have six qualified pilots (harvest manager, establishment manager, thinnings manager, fire and security manager, inventory manager and forest engineer) and are training more. Training was undertaken through Interpine and the Massey University School of Aviation.

Drones or UAV’s are now in hot demand across the company with the technology being used operationally for mapping, safe behavioural observations for tree fallers, breaker outs and machine operators, windthrow assessments, survival surveys, land preparation assessments, post thinning, regeneration and waste assessments and fire.

Forestry Corporation of NSW have followed a similar path. In May of this year 12 pilots along with three existing pilots were put through training so now they have 15 pilots based in 10 offices across NSW who are routinely using drones for much the same uses; plantation and native assessments, regeneration assessments and koala monitoring. Like New Zealand, the programme is being expanded and the systems for collecting and processing of the data outputs is being streamlined. Details on how ForestTECH 2017 delegates can download the presentations with details on steps taken to introduce drones into each company and lessons on rolling out the technology were sent out last week.

It appears that Swedish forestry companies are also heading down this same path as this region. Södra is Sweden’s largest forest-owner association, with more than 50,000 forest owners as its members. Södra is now investing in more forestry drones. “We have identified numerous applications where drones can enhance the efficiency of forestry work, not least when making inventories of storm-damaged forests. By purchasing equipment and investing in raising skills, we are taking another step towards the development of tomorrow’s digital forestry operations,” said Johan Malmqvist, Project Manager at Södra.

Since the end of 2015, Södra has trialed the use of drones for applications including inventories of forest damage. Test outcomes have been favourable and major potential has been identified for the digital technology moving forward. This summer, the Swedish Camera Monitoring Act was amended, which has simplified the use of drones in forestry. Södra is now taking further steps with digital development in the form of a considerable investment in drone technology and personnel skills development.

“We have purchased drone equipment for all our forestry operations areas and, in the autumn, we trained 51 of our forestry professionals as drone pilots. This means we are now well equipped to further develop use of the technology,” said Johan Malmqvist. Drones are digital aids that enhance the efficiency of manual tasks for Södra’s field staff.

“The technology is extremely cost-efficient. It is possible to obtain a good overview of the forest in very little time. The major advantage is from not having to waste unnecessary amounts of time on checks. Drones enable you to quickly see if and where a manual inspection or action is required. This enables more efficient work methods that, by extension, benefit our forest owner members. Moreover, drones make work safer for forest inspectors, not least when making inventories of windfalls following a storm,” said Johan Malmqvist.

Photo – Johan Malmqvist, Project Manager at Södra.

Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) and Associated Kiln Driers (AKD) are in advanced negotiations regarding the potential purchase of the Yarram sawmill located at Yarram, Victoria and the Caboolture sawmill located at Caboolture, Queensland by AKD. At this stage, no agreement has been reached by the parties to proceed with the proposal, and any subsequent agreement is expected to be subject to certain conditions.

The Yarram mill processes approximately 150,000m3 of sawlogs and produces a range of outdoor products primarily for the Victorian market. The Caboolture mill processes approximately 215,000m3 of sawlog and produces a range of structural timber for the Queensland and Northern NSW market. All existing employees of these mills (approximately 50 at Yarram and 100 at Caboolture) will be offered on going employment.

“We see these businesses as well-run operations that will be a perfect fit for the AKD Group. They provide us with a greater range of products to offer our existing customers and provide AKD with access to new markets and customers. Overall they help us become internationally competitive” said CEO Shane Vicary.

If this purchase of the Yarram and Caboolture sawmills by AKD goes ahead, there will be no impact on our existing operations and employment. We believe that they will enhance our future and provide growth and stability.

AKD currently processes 700,000m3 of sawlog at its Colac mills and has 450 employees. If this transaction goes ahead we will process over 1 million m3 of sawlog and employ over 600 staff. This would make us the second largest sawmilling company in Australia.

Over the years we have grown our business through a combination of strategic acquisitions and capital investment in our core business. The proposed acquisition continues this approach. We believe that the future demand for quality virgin wood fibre for use in the construction of detached and multistorey residential and commercial construction is strong.

The access to well managed plantations with long term supply agreements is at the core of this transaction. We are committed to providing quality locally grown and produced products, from renewable resources, having a carbon neutral or better impact on the environment.

Source: AKD
Photo: AKD CEO Shane Vicary.
CEO Shane Vicary.

Södra has established the first indoor birch seed orchard in Sweden. By growing birch seeds indoors, supply becomes more stable, and the quality of the seedlings is higher and more consistent.

The facility is located at Södra’s nursery in Falkenberg, where Södra is currently developing the operation in partnership with Svenska Skogsplantor.

The advantage of growing the trees indoors is that they will only cross-pollinate with each other, which maintains the high quality of the seeds from the selected birches. The subsequent early flowering reduces the chance of external pollination.

There has been a shortage of high-quality birch seeds in recent years, and the demand for birch seedlings has exceeded supply. With this new method, Södra will now be able to meet demand more effectively.

“By being open to new methods, we can also continually adapt our way of working. In this way, we are making an even greater contribution to our owners and their forests, as well as to society as a whole, which benefits from well-managed forests,” said Johan Jonsson, Head of Södra Skogsplantor.

Australian OneFortyOne Plantations (OFO) has signed an agreement to acquire one of New Zealand’s leading forestry businesses, Nelson Forests.

Nelson Forests is currently 100% owned by investment funds advised by Global Forest Partners LP, a US-based timberland investment management organisation.

The acquisition will allow for the exchange of best practice forestry management between the Australian and New Zealand operations. Following the acquisition of Nelson Forests, OFO intends to pursue options to increase the scale of both the forest and domestic processing activities in the Nelson region.

Completion of the transaction is expected to occur during 2018, subject to approval from New Zealand’s Overseas Investment Office (OIO). Campbell Global, Gresham Partners and MinterEllisonRuddWatts were advisory partners to OFO on the transaction.

Nelson Forests is a vertically integrated plantation and mill business that operates in the Nelson/Marlborough region of New Zealand. The plantation is over 60,000 productive hectares in size and the region has a total annual log processing capacity of 1.4 million cubic metres.

OFO is a leader in the Australian forestry industry. It holds long-term harvesting rights to a softwood plantation estate in the Green Triangle region comprising over 80,000 hectares.

The measuring station at Värö will be the first at Södra to introduce new technology for measuring timber stack volumes on trucks. The new method is based on automated volume measurement using laser technology, developed by Swedish company, Mabema AB.

Introduction of the new technology will also involve a transition from manual to digital timber stack measurement. This will speed up the process, while maintaining and gradually improving measurement precision, and bring logistical gains due to faster passage through the measuring station. The data produced by the new method will include gross volume under bark, the height, length and width of the stack, and average diameter of the logs.

“Södra has been working with Mabema AB for some years – throughout the entire development phase of the new technology – together with several other industry players. To have now reached the stage where this is being realised represents a technological shift for timber measurement in the forest industry,” said Roger Andersson, head of timber measurement at Södra Skog.

The new measurement technology at Värö is being introduced gradually and will soon be used for all softwood pulpwood, with other ranges to follow. While Södra owns the measuring station, VMF Syd – an independent timber measurement association that operates throughout most of Götaland – will be using the new method.

“The roll-out and introduction of Södra’s new laser measurement system has been a highly successful joint project,” said Anders Svensson, President of VMF Syd.

“Mjøstårnet” will be more than 80 metres tall and stand 30 metres higher than what is today considered the world’s tallest timber building.

“Mjøstårnet sets new standards for timber constructions. The building is the closest we come to a skyscraper in timber,” says investor and contracting client, Arthur Buchardt.

 > > Read more about why “Mjøstårnet” is THE TALLEST TIMBER BUILDING IN THE WORLD.

 > > See the first of six films about “Mjøstårnet”

 > > See also the first of six films about “Mjøstårnet” without logo

Mjøstårnet, named after its neighbour and Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa. The record-breaking construction will sit on the edge of the north-eastern tip of the lake in the small town of Brumunddal, an hour and a half’s drive north of Oslo.

Spanning over 18 floors, the building will reach 80 metres high, and include apartments, an indoor swimming pool, hotel, offices, restaurant and communal areas. Construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2018. Moelven, a Mjøsa-local Scandinavian industrial group, will supply the timber constructions from local spruce forests required to construct the tower and the swimming pool area.

“The assembly and construction of the Mjøstårnet is nothing short of world-class engineering, and will be managed without external scaffolding, despite the complexity of working at heights. We are primarily using cranes and supplementing with lifts as needed. We have reached 33 metres to date, meaning we have 48 metres to go,” says Buchardt.

Climate-friendly
Arthur Buchardt states that he can evidence the climate friendliness of building with wood.

“A project group established by Norwegian road authorities investigated the possibility of building the world’s longest timber bridge across Lake Mjøsa. Their studies show that building with wood instead of concrete can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 30 percent,” says Buchardt.

International standards
Buchardt believes that the construction sector will evolve in the footsteps of the automotive industry.

“In 15 years’ time I believe it will be illegal to produce and sell cars that run on fossil fuels. Similarly, I expect that climate-friendly materials will become an international statutory standard,” says Buchardt.

Importance of the Paris climate accord
Arthur Buchardt draws inspiration from the Paris climate agreement.

“You could say that I have had my eureka moment. I want to help convey an important message with this project. To build with wood is to contribute to the world breathing better,” says Buchardt.

Wants to inspire
Buchardt hopes that his ambitions to build the world’s tallest timber building may inspire others.

“Through Mjøstårnet we demonstrate that it is possible to construct large, complex wooden buildings. The planned construction of the Norwegian Government quarter can become a wooden landmark internationally,” says Buchardt.

Editor’s note: Moelven is currently creating six films about Mjøstårnet. The first film presents property investor Arthur Buchardt. The next five films will be published throughout 2018. Moelven can help provide interviewees, quality photos, films and photography sessions, plus present the building on-site. For further information, please contact:

Tom Erik Holmlund
Head of Communications
Moelven Industrier ASA
Tel: +47 91 668 668
moelven.com/mjostarnet

Moelven industrier ASA is a Scandinavian industrial group that supplies products and associated services to the Scandinavian building market. The Group’s businesses employ over 3.600 persons and have a total annual turnover of some NOK 11 billion. The Group’s close to 52 business production units are organised into three divisjons: Timber, Wood and Building Systems.

Conifex El Dorado, Inc. of El Dorado, Arkansas, joins Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA) as a new lumber manufacturer member.

To further diversify the company’s product and geographic reach, Conifex has upgraded and restarted an idled sawmill complex in El Dorado, with an estimated annual capacity of 180 million board feet.

Established in 2008, Conifex manufactures softwood lumber products primarily for North American and Asian markets

Ponsse UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Ponsse Plc, has opened its new facility in Annan, Scotland.

“The new premises are specifically designed for servicing forestry equipment, and will enable a good customer service and growth in the future as well,” says Ponsse UK’s managing director Gary Glendinning.

In the new premises, four machines can be serviced at the same time. As well as spare part sales and warehousing, the service centre has training facilities for customer, driver and staff training.

PONSSE UK’s machine fleet has been growing in recent years, making new facilities necessary. At the same time, work safety and working comfort have also developed in leaps and bounds. In addition to the new premises, other changes will be made at the turn of the year.

Gary Glendinning joins Ponsse as area director, responsible for the markets in Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia. In addition, Glendinning will continue as the managing director for Ponsse Ireland.

The post of managing director at Ponsse UK will be taken up by Dean Robson, who transfers to the position from machine sales. Like Gary Glendinning, Dean Robson also has been a long-time Ponsse employee. He joined Ponsse in 2004, in spare parts sales.

Ponsse Plc is a company specialising in the sales, manufacture, servicing and technology of cut-to-length method forest machines.