NZ based Forest Enterprises, the Masterton-based forest investment and management company, has appointed a Gisborne-based regional manager to boost the management of its 10,000-plus hectare forest estate in the Gisborne region. Dan Fraser of Gisborne took up the new role in August.

“Dan’s professional forestry expertise supports our focus on harvesting in Gisborne,” says the company’s Managing Director, Steve Wilton. “He will complement the strategic alliance we have with Logic Forest Solutions Limited, our Gisborne forest supervisor. Dan and Logic work from the same office which is efficient for both companies and effective for our whole Gisborne operation.”

“Our forests in the Gisborne region make up half of the total forest estate we manage, so the increased and ongoing harvest up there will be significant for us,” says Wilton. “This is our first appointment outside of Masterton since the business started in 1972,” adds Wilton. “Dan’s appointment also brings our team up to 17 staff members for the first time, and we’re still growing.”

Forest Enterprises this year expects to double its 2016 harvest volume from its forests in Gisborne, says Wilton. The company began the major programme of harvesting its Gisborne forests in February 2016 with one logging crew, and has a third crew about to start. Volume from Forest Enterprises’ Wairarapa harvest operations continues to increase year on year since it started logging in earnest in 2010. It reached 330,000 tonnes in 2016.

Fraser’s experience includes extensive green fields harvest planning, road construction projects, strategic planning and contract management, which Wilton says adds value to the whole Forest Enterprises operation.

Forest Enterprises manages 59 forests on behalf of its investors and nine for private forest owners. Forest Enterprises’ Wairarapa forests make up 45% of the company’s total estate under management, with 5% in Hawkes Bay.

John Deere has announced three upgrades to its powerful Forwarder line. The 1110G, 1210G and 1510G models feature new engines, control modules, simpler CAN busses and a streamlined electrical system, providing loggers with the power and precision needed for tough jobs in the woods.

A key feature on the G-Series models is adaptive driveline control, a unique software-based control system that improves drivability and productivity. The operator selects the desired RPM setting (Eco, Normal, Power) for the operating conditions, and the system automatically adjusts the engine’s RPMs to correspond with the engine load. In high-load situations, the new driveline control ensures that the diesel engine runs smoothly and uses the available maximum tractive force efficiently.

“Our G-Series Forwarders are designed with the operator in mind, incorporating several new features to help our customers be more productive,” said Niko Solopuro, product marketing manager WCTL Forwarders and Automation. “We are dedicated to creating innovative solutions, like adaptive driveline control, that enable loggers overcome the challenges they face each day.”

The 1110G, 1210G and 1510G models, as well as the rest of the John Deere Forwarder line, are available with Intelligent Boom Control (IBC), an innovative technology offering that simplifies boom operation, increasing operator productivity. IBC automatically controls the lift, slew, and extension of the boom based on the location of the grapple enabling more precise grapple positioning, especially with long reaches.

The new G-Series models feature a 6.8L John Deere PowerTech Plus engine, which meets the latest Stage 4/Final Tier 4 emissions regulations. Combined with the improved powertrain, the G-Series models offer enhanced performance. The control system and user interface has been improved to ensure machine uptime. The TimberMatic F-16 control systems features a configurable user interface, cruise control and inclination display. The new software version allows service advisors to remotely access the machine, streamlining troubleshooting. New MECA control modules, simple CAN busses and a simplified electrical system improve machine efficiency.

Ideal for thinning jobs, the 1110G boasts 6.6 percent more power and 4.1 percent more torque than the previous machine. Available with a short wheelbase, the rear axle on the 1110G has been moved forward by 40 cm (15.75 in), allowing the load space to remain unchanged.

Featuring 7.6 percent more power and 7.8 percent more torque than its predecessor, the 1210G offers several load space alternative with different widths for different uses. Optional Variable Load Space (VLS) offers three special bunks with telescopic stakes that can be extended hydraulically. The headboard is able to move both horizontally and vertically, and extends with the load stakes.

The 1510G machine is equipped with an engine that increases the machine power by 5.1 percent and torque by as much as 8.7 percent, increasing machine productivity. More agile than the previous model, the 1510G slewing angle has been increased from 42 to 44 degrees.

Both the 1210G and 1510G models are available in a long bogie version, ideal for soft terrain. The distance between the front and rear wheel hubs in rear bogie has been increased, and the power train and turning radius on the 1210G and 1510G models are the same as with the standard HD portal bogie-equipped machine. Additionally, the ground pressure of the rear chassis equipped with tracks is 14 percent less than an ordinary bogie axle. The low ground pressure on both the front and rear chassis of the machine makes it ideal for soft terrain, as the tracks are shallower and the depression is smaller. Additionally, the long bogie performs exceptionally in normal terrain, and brings stability when navigating over obstacles in rocky terrain.

Designed to improve operator comfort, the John Deere forwarders are available in two cab options, fixed or rotating and leveling. The rotating and levelling cabin helps the operator maintain the correct working posture, preventing stress on the back and shoulder areas, even on uneven terrain, and reduces vibration by as much as 30 to 50 percent during operation. The cabin can be rotated 290 degrees, offering a view of the boom and grapple for safer, easier log loading. Large windows allow virtually unrestricted all-around visibility. Additionally, fatigue-beating enhancements, like comfortable ergonomic armrests, fully adjustable air-cushioned seat and automated climate-control system, ensure that the operator remains productive throughout the day.

All John Deere Forwarders are available with JDLink™, now five years in base. JDLink is designed to remotely connect owners and managers to their equipment and local John Deere dealer, providing alerts and machine information, including location, utilization, performance and maintenance data, to better manage where and how equipment is used.

To learn more about the 1110G, 1210G and 1510G Forwarders, as well as IBC and JDLink, please visit your local John Deere Forestry dealer or www.deere.com/forwarders.

Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division Mailing: P.O. Box 8806 Moline, IL 61266-8806

For Media Inquiries, Contact: Amy Jones
imre Phone: 410-821-8220
Email: amyj@imre.com

Komtasu Forest have released two new forest machine simulators – including a full- sized KF 500 simulator and the KF 50 laptop model

The new models include many new functions for improved functionality and performance. Both simulator models have new software and include the latest machine models for both harvester and forwarder simulation. The simulators also offer several different machine options to choose from, such as standard crane and combi crane, S-type and C-type heads, and with or without multi-tree handling. A new feature is the VR option, which uses virtual reality technology to improve the simulator experience.

The simulators include a Forest Editor, which enables the user to generate landscapes and forest stands. In this way, users can create forests that exactly match their usual working environment regarding tree species, terrain and forest density.

All simulators also have a multiplayer function, which means two simulators can operate in the same virtual environment, enabling a harvester and a forwarder to work together. The multiplayer mode includes statistics reflecting the team’s results – a function that can encourage further improvements in performance. One can even choose to add an instructor station, which enables an instructor or experienced simulator operator to get a better and more dynamic overview of and interact with the other operators.

The forestry sector says its growth is being unfairly squeezed by competition from subsidised overseas rivals.

Log prices may be good, but foresters say they will struggle to reach bullish export growth targets over the next five years because of subsidies paid to overseas rivals, which may be challenged through the World Trade Organization (WTO). The forest and wood-products industry strategic action plan, published in 2012, set a target to lift exports from $4.5 billion in 2011 to $12 billion by 2022. But exports amounted to just $5.4 billion in the year to June 30.

“I don’t believe that goal is ever going to be achieved,” says Brian Stanley, chairman of the Wood Council of New Zealand, which represents the country’s forest and wood products industry. “It’s pie in the sky now.”

Stanley says most of the export growth was forecast to come from getting more value from logs, but processors, facing price competition from overseas rivals who get government subsidies, aren’t investing. Chinese buyers, in particular, can afford to pay more than local buyers for logs because of subsidies helping to cut the cost of power, transport, land and tax, he says. “If you are manufacturing your sawn lumber in subsidised sawmills, you can afford to pay a bit more for your logs.”

In China, the world’s largest construction market, demand for wood has increased since timber-harvesting quotas were reduced and commercial logging of its remaining natural forests was banned to help protect the environment. As part of the changes, China reduced tariffs on imported logs from 13% to 11%, further widening the margin with sawn lumber, which attracts a 17% tariff.

“They are setting up a supply chain globally of getting logs to China, and so they are coming to places like New Zealand and paying more for their logs than our people can really afford to pay, because the logs are going into subsidised mills,” Stanley says. “We are seeing very little investment in sawmilling, because they can’t compete in the global marketplace.”

In Canada, New Zealand’s biggest rival in the lumber market in China, the Government, which owns most of the country’s forests, requires Canadian sawmillers to be able to buy logs at 60% of the export price, says Stanley. Access to cheaper logs helps Canadian sawmills pay China’s 17% tariff on lumber, making them stiff competition for Kiwi mills.

Source of tension – New Zealand isn’t the only country being hurt by Canadian subsidies, which are an ongoing source of tension with the US under the North American Free-Trade Agreement. This year, in retaliation, President Donald Trump slapped a tariff of up to 24% on Canadian lumber imports.

In New Zealand, the Wood Processors & Manufacturers Association, which Stanley also chairs, wants the Government to consider taking a case to the WTO. The association has taken legal advice on the potential for a case and met Trade Minister Todd McClay and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials last month to discuss the issue. “We believe there is an opportunity for New Zealand to go to the WTO,” Stanley says.

McClay says the issues the forestry sector faces are complex and often multifaceted, but he has directed MFAT to invest effort in working with wood processors and forest owners to better understand the challenges they face and find the solutions in the WTO and bilaterally to help level the playing field. “This is an important industry and they have my support to boost exports of value added products via our trade relationships.”

Until these barriers are sorted out, Stanley says, the industry here is not going to pony up with the money needed for new plant that would help drive exports higher.

“Wood processors can’t get access to long-term contracts for logs or raw material, and so nobody is going to invest big licks of money unless they have a guarantee that they have a supply of raw material. The playing field is tilted so heavily against them globally and also locally that they just won’t invest the money to increase the output of sawn lumber or other added-value wood products in New Zealand.”

Forestry products are New Zealand’s third largest export commodity and the prospect of the industry languishing as a low-value commodity producer won’t be welcome news for the Government, which has set a target to double the value of primary-sector exports by 2025, largely through adding more value to the commodities we produce.

One company that has bucked the trend and opened a new mill this year is Red Stag Timber in Rotorua, whose $100 million investment in a “super-mill” enables it to process more than a million logs a year more cheaply. Still, Stanley says that mill has focused its attention on meeting demand in New Zealand and Australia, eschewing bigger markets such as China where it can’t compete.

Potential Opportunities – Stanley isn’t all doom and gloom, though. If trade barriers can be overcome, he sees big potential opportunities for the wood processing industry in engineered wood products, such as cross-laminated timber, which are becoming increasingly popular for multi-storey buildings around the world. They are also gaining traction in New Zealand because recent earthquakes showed wooden buildings outperformed concrete and steel structures.

Dubbed “plyscrapers”, these buildings are attracting innovative big-name designers such as Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who created Christchurch’s Cardboard Cathedral. Ban’s 19-storey Terrace House project planned for Vancouver is billed as the world’s tallest hybrid timber structure, with a pioneering hybrid structure of wood, concrete and steel.

In Wellington, plans are afoot for the country’s biggest wooden high-rise. Details remain under wraps ahead of an announcement at Parliament.

Given New Zealand’s housing shortage, Stanley sees further potential for the development of other wooden high-rise buildings, and the industry is working with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to get new building standards in place to smooth the way.

Still, if the playing field isn’t levelled, Stanley believes the outlook for the industry here isn’t that good.

“We have got a tilted playing field globally and we have also got a tilted playing field in New Zealand in terms of competing for our raw materials,” he says. “You are not going to see any step change unless the Government can pull some levers that will make the climate right and level the playing field.”

“We are seeing very little investment in sawmilling, because they can’t compete in the global marketplace.”

Source: Wood Processors & Manufacturers Association (WPMA)

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The state body for the timber industry has called on the Queensland government to focus on the fundamentals of developing a long-term timber industry in Far North Queensland.

“There is significant potential to develop the timber industry in Far North Queensland and Cape York, given extensive areas of native forest resources and plantations and strong demand for timber products”, said Timber Queensland CEO Mick Stephens.

Speaking at the Tropical Forestry: Innovation and Change in the Asia Pacific Region Conference in Cairns, Mr Stephens is highlighting innovative forest industry development across the state.

“There is well-targeted public and private co-investment in R&D and innovation projects, including plantation genetics, native forest silviculture, wood processing technology, timber durability and advanced timber building design,” said Mr Stephens.

“However, a lack of focus on key policy settings is hampering future investment and value adding in Far North Queensland. Foremost amongst these issues is the need for greater resource security from crown leasehold lands.”

“Presently, there are large areas of leasehold grazing land with valuable woodland resources, but only a handful of short term wood supply contracts. Without new contracts, processors cannot invest and expand into the future. Some of these businesses may simply close within the next 2 years as the current contracts expire”.

“This is a missed opportunity as there are valuable timber species that can be processed into high-quality flooring, decking and appearance products, such as the Darwin Stringybark (Eucalyptus tetrodonta) that is extensive across northern Australia. Access to ports and timber outlets in key centres such as Cairns is also a positive.

“Many of these opportunities relate to Indigenous forestry development, with 30% of Australia’s forests owned or managed by Indigenous people with around three-quarters located in Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory”.

“Like most industrial users, timber processors are facing crippling energy prices. For the softwood plantation processing industry in the region, this is ironic as there is excess wood waste from forestry and timber processing to generate baseload renewable bioenergy that can take the pressure off the grid. Unfortunately, there are insufficient incentives to make this happen”.

“What is needed from state government is a clear focus to develop the industry in the Far North, through well-targeted infrastructure, energy policy and resource security. The benefits are significant and would deliver hundreds of new jobs based on a renewable resource across northern Australia,” Mr Stephens said.

Source: Timber Queensland

Forest owners have been paying Whanganui District Council rates for 25 years and all they want in return is the roads to bring their logs out, Peter Lissington says. He works for New Zealand Pine Management, which has 7,000ha of forest in the Whanganui District. It began planting in 1994, with the council and central government welcoming the investment.

The forest owners have paid about $100,000 a year in rates, subsidising services for others in the district. They don’t want to pay an additional levy to maintain rural roads, Mr Lissington said. He’s worried the council is discussing a levy without involving forest owners.

But he’s mistaken, Whanganui councillor Alan Taylor said. There are no “secret meetings” and some forest owners are already engaged and have suggested a levy. He agrees that the council “wooed” forest owners in the 1990s, and acknowledges it has ignored rural road maintenance for 12 years – an act of “economic vandalism”.

There are 30,000ha of logs to be taken out over the next 30 years, Mr Taylor said, and forestry does 90 per cent of the damage to rural roads. It brings out more tonnes of product than any other rural industry. There’s a $2 million a year shortfall in the rural road maintenance budget. “The rate levy is nowhere near the level required to cover the cost.”

The cost to foresters will be “scary”, he said, but they should have expected it. “If they never expected to have to pay for the damage to our roads then they have been very naive.”

The council is considering increasing rates for forest owners, and imposing a per tonne levy as logs are removed. It could also restrict harvest times and restrict where new planting can be done. No decisions have been made yet, and Mr Taylor said forestry interests will be consulted before they are.

Source: Wanganui Chronicle

With its large hoppers and long discharge conveyors this machine can save multiple cycles per shift.

In October, environmental technology company Doppstadt will begin series production of the new SM 620 K Plus separating machine. This solution for separating materials into multiple fractions is designed for efficiency: its charging hopper, over seven cubic metres in volume, can receive large quantities of feed material, which is then discharged via extended side and rear conveyors.

This means that the machine requires filling less often and the rubble heaps, with 40% greater volume, only need removing infrequently. Even when on the move, the machine does not stop; the drum continues to sieve and the recycling process need not be interrupted.

Ideal operation sites: forestry, spoil heaps, roadsides
The new SM 620 K Plus comes into its own in inhospitable locations. The track vehicle is robustly built, stable on uneven terrain, and can develop its tractive forces optimally to suit the situation. The machine is operated by remote control.

The Doppstadt solutions portfolio: the SM series
Once series production of the SM 620 K Plus begins, Doppstadt will have completed its portfolio of high-quality separating machines, says Volker Mihr, production manager for Doppstadt. “All the machines are extremely powerful and adaptable.

They can sort practically any incoming material into up to six fractions, and by changing their sieving elements – which does not require tools – they can adapt to the most complex tasks.” The main benefit of the separating machines in this series, however, is their efficiency: with their large hoppers and long discharge conveyors, these machines can save multiple cycles per shift.

All machines in the SM 518 Plus series are equipped with the latest DEUTZ engine technology and meet classes IIIB and IV of the EU-wide emissions standards and also EPA Tier 4 or EPA Tier 4 final.

Metsä Group’s sales in January–June 2017 were Euro 2,451.4 million, compared to Euro 2,339.5 million in 1H 2016. The growth in sales is primarily the result of greater delivery volumes.

The comparable operating result was Euro 246.9 million, or 10.1% of sales. The operating result improved compared to the previous year, mainly due to the positive development in Finland’s paperboard business and the increase in pulp prices. 1H 2017 operating result was Euro 253 million, compared to Euro 225 million in the 1H 2016.

Sales in the 2Q 2017 totalled Euro 1,235.2 million, whereas sales for the corresponding period last year were Euro 1,183.9 million. Operating result was Euro 122 million. Comparable operating result was Euro 119 million, compared to Euro 120 million in the 1H 2016.

President and CEO Kari Jordan said: “Metsä Group’s profitability in 2017 has improved from the previous year. The most significant reasons for the improved result are the clearly higher volumes in paperboard deliveries and the increased price of pulp.

“Metsä Group’s key development projects aiming for profitable growth are progressing according to plan. The construction of the bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, which has proceeded on schedule and on budget, is nearly completed, and the mill’s start-up will begin in mid-August. Pulp deliveries to customers will start at the beginning of September. The new production line at the Kerto® LVL mill in Lohja will likewise start up in August.”

Metsä Group is a forerunner in sustainable bioeconomy utilising renewable wood from sustainably managed northern forests. Metsä Group focuses on wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, fresh fibre paperboards and tissue and cooking papers.

In the first half of 2017 the value of wood products trade between China and Australia rose 17% to $1,680 million from the same period of 2016, ITTO reports.

Of the total, the value of China’s wood products imports from Australia grew 23% to $790 million. The value of log and waste paper imports rose 47% and 41%, respectively.

The value of China’s wood products exports to Australia increased 12% to $890 million. The value of China’s plywood exports to Australia grew 36%.

More than 50% of China’s wood product exports to Australia were of wooden furniture and seats and the value of China’s wooden furniture and seat exports increased 11% to $466 million.

China imported mainly woodchips and logs from Australia. In the first half of 2017 China’s woodchips and log imports from Australia were 1.93 million tonnes and 2.25 million cubic metres respectively.

Chip imports grew 4% year on year and log imports were up 28% year on year in the first half of 2017. China’s plywood imports from Australia grew 34% to 74,000 cubic metres. In addition, China imported fibreboard, waste paper, paper, paperboard and paper products.