Excavator technology for increasing the efficiency of energy wood and pulp wood harvesting

In Finland, the harvesting of small-sized thinning wood will be doubled or even tripled over the current harvesting volume. A greater area of peatlands could be harvested during winter for energy and pulpwood if contractors adopted more carriers for harvester heads based on excavator technology. The purpose of this study was to investigate why excavator-based harvesters are not used more widely for wood harvesting in these forests. The study was implemented by conducting 46 personal interviews in 2006 and 2011. The interviewees formed five groups: contractors who used excavators for harvesting, contractors who owned excavators but did not use them for harvesting, harvester head manufacturers, officers of wood procurement organizations, and vendors of excavators. The Nordic tradition of timber harvesting using wheeled harvesters was the main reason for the limited use of excavator-based harvesters. In the follow-up (2011) lack of the forest-adapted excavators was the main reason. During this study, mixes of harvesting machines have not been increased to permit winter wood procurement, even though the number of annual working hours could be increased for both excavator-based and wheeled harvesters. Existing excavators could be used more efficiently by cooperating with energy and forest industry as well as with Forest Owners’ Associations. In future, the potential of excavator technology could be realised by developing a more flexible Finnish wood procurement infrastructure that uses a wider range of harvesters in harvesting enterprises. This could also increase the overall cost efficiency of wood procurement by permitting the use of less expensive harvesting machines.

► We study excavator-based harvesters to enhance energy wood harvesting.
► The Nordic tradition of timber harvesting uses wheeled harvesters.
► The Nordic tradition is the main reason for limited use of forest-adapted excavators.
► Mixes of harvesting machines will increase the number of annual working hours.
► Cheaper machine mixes increase cost efficiency of energy wood harvesting.