Kostnader vid gallring med flerträdshanterande aggregat, från skog till industri

Abstract: Profit in first commercial thinnings of today is hard to achieve. This is because of prevailing pulpwood prices and because of high costs of logging and transport. To reduce these costs higher productivity is advocated. One way to increase the productivity is the use of multi-tree handling harvester heads. The aim of this study was to calculate logging and transport costs in first thinnings, where multi-tree handling has been used. Some specific questions were addressed, e.g. how the harvester´s productivity is affected by harvested mean stem volume and proportion of multi-tree handled trees. We studied factors that affect productivity and road transport by means of machine cost calculations and productivity calculations. Costs for each machine were then calculated and the longest profitable transport distance was determined. Regression analyses were accomplished where the calculations were based on data from objects. The results show that harvester´s productivity is strongly affected by the harvested mean stem volume. Multi-tree handling can have a positive impact on productivity, but this is depending on the suitability of the technology used for specific tree sizes. The forwarder´s productivity is greatly affected by the hauling distance, and to some extent also by the mean stem volume. Transport costs from landing to industry are impacted by transport distance, which has a big effect on total cost in first thinnings. At a pulpwood price of 330 SEK/m3 (solid under bark), the longest profitable transport distance is 275 km for the study´s mean object. The pulpwood price has a large impact on the transport distance, where a price reduction of 20 % may reduce the transport distance by half. By dividing the costs in terminal and transport time, the different cost items can be compared. This shows that road transport cost may be significant with longer transport distance. Despite this, the most expensive cost item in first thinnings is generally the harvester. Its productivity can be increased through higher proportion of multi-tree handling and by so making the thinning more profitable.