Forest Products Industry

The first autonomous logging machine rumbled down a Swedish forest path and scanned for stacked logs to transport. It then scooped them up with a crane and loaded them onto its trailer. A new study of the truck-size robot, called a forwarder, suggests it could help forest workers with at least some deadly jobs. Source: SciAm “It’s the first trial for us to see that the machine we built is perhaps capable of doing what we were dreaming it could do,” said Pedro La Hera, a roboticist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and lead author of the study, published in the Journal of Field Robotics. Logging jobs are often demanding, requiring operators to multitask and endure nearly constant vibration while operating logging vehicles. Fatigued foresters don’t always pay attention to other foliage in the area, the researchers say, and can damage the ecosystems around them. Logging is also dangerous; in the US, it has one of the highest fatality rates of any industry. Roboticists, software engineers and forestry scholars in Sweden set out to automate some onerous logging tasks. They used GPS to set a path in a clear-cut area and equipped the vehicle with a computer vision system to help it identify, pick up and release cut logs. The predetermined task sequence demonstrates how, in a controlled environment, a machine with little to no human oversight could operate. “It’s definitely an advancement,” said Thomas Douglass, a logger who owns Thomas Logging and Forestry in Guilford, Maine. “I, along with other contractors in this area, have problems getting help working in the woods, so I can see why at least making the forwarder an automated process would be helpful.” For now, these vehicles’ use may be limited to Sweden, where nearly all forests are managed for commercial logging, paths are well identified, and satellites provide information on logged areas. Loggers in the US, in contrast, harvest trees both in plantations and in natural stands where self-piloted machinery would face more challenges. Still, the research highlights aspects of autonomous machinery that are worth developing further, says Dalia Abbas, a forester who has investigated the effects of logging operations in environmentally sensitive areas. Eventually, Ms Abbas says, she “would definitely hope that it takes into account the fuller range of where it’s operating, whether it includes wildlife, other contaminants or bugs that come with the logs to avoid any infestations, and its sensitivity to the terrain.” Since the experiments took place, engineers have already improved the machine’s manoeuvring capabilities. The researchers are also pursuing other autonomous efforts such as planting seedlings. Although logging may always need human oversight, automating certain steps could make the process safer and more efficient, benefiting both workers and the environment, La Hera says. The paper Exploring the feasibility of autonomous forestry operations: Results from the first experimental unmanned machine can be downloaded at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rob.22300

Metsä Group has completed a transaction in which the ownership in the group’s Russian subsidiaries Metsä Svir LLC, Metsä Forest St. Petersburg LLC, Metsä Forest Podporozhye LLC and Metsä Board Rus LLC has transferred to VLP Group. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price of the transaction. Metsä Group no longer holds any assets in Russia. Source: Timberbiz VLP Group operates in forestry and forest industry mainly in Vologda region, Russia. Metsä Group held a minority ownership in VLP Group during 2003–2017. In 2022 Metsä Group stopped its business operations in Russia, including the operations of the Svir sawmill, wood procurement and paperboard sales. VLP is a major company in the forestry industry working mainly in the Vologda region and has had an association with Metsa in the past.

Japanese companies, NYK Line, NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers, Tsuneishi Shipbuilding and British renewable energy business, Drax have signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop both the world’s first biomass-fuelled ship (bioship) and the technology that could power it. Source: Timberbiz Biomass is playing a growing role in Japan’s transition from fossil fuel power generation to low carbon and renewable electricity, and the country’s demand for biomass pellets, sourced primarily from North America and composed of sawmill and forestry residues, is increasing. Drax produces biomass pellets in both the US South and Canada. The company has a longstanding relationship with NBP which transports its pellets to Japan. These pellets are currently shipped through smaller handy size bulkers, which, due to the limited size of their fuel tanks, have proved challenging to switch to lower emission fuels, such as ammonia. Through the MoU, which was signed at the British Embassy in Tokyo, the companies will initially conduct research to develop the new shipping technology, an on-board biomass fuel plant, which would be required to power a bioship. The four companies are exploring how other renewable technologies could be used to reduce both the emissions and fuel costs of shipping biomass. The biomass fuel plant would use a gasifier to combust biomass at high temperatures and create and contain gases including carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane. These gases would then be used to power a generator which could propel the bioship and also provide a proportion of its internal power. The installation of a biomass fuel plant could see a 22% reduction in well-to-wake carbon emissions in bioships when compared to using fossil fuels. If this development is successful, the companies will jointly study the possibility of building a bioship by the end of 2029. “This initiative is part of NYK’s long-term target of net-zero emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) by 2050 for the NYK Group’s oceangoing businesses,” Shinichi Yanagisawa, Executive Officer of NYK Line, said. “The NYK Group is committed to providing its expertise in low-carbon and decarbonised maritime transportation as per this MOU and will utilize the knowledge gained in this research and development to promote initiatives related to various energy-saving technologies. Through our strength in high-quality transportation services, we will continue to co-create value for society with our partners.”  

International demand for pruned logs from New Zealand is the highest ever seen by a forest manager with 30 years of experience in the sector. Source: RNZ John Turkington owns John Turkington Forestry – a Manawatū company that plants, manages, harvests and markets radiata pine, says he cannot understand why forest owners do not prune plantation forests. For 15 years China had been a strong market for low-value, unpruned logs, but that was not the case now and was unlikely to be in the future, he said. “Things are fundamentally changed in my view, in China. And this is where we are going to be at,” Turkington said. “The crashes are getting closer and closer together and the range of prices is becoming more and more marked. “So, you used to have a fluctuation around a NZ$20 spread, now it’s more like NZ$60 (between the high and low prices).” Export log prices are at an eight-year low and many harvesting gangs are currently without work. The stable growth area is with pruned logs, according to Turkington. “Pruned logs per tonne is sort of sitting firmly at NZ$200 or north of NZ$200, it depends where it is sold to,” he said. “Whereas the A grade, which is the predominant diet in China, is sitting in the early NZ$100s.” The added bonus with pruned logs was they were turned into product and then sent offshore so the “value add happens in NZ, which is another bonus”. Mr Turkington admitted that sheep and beef farmers with sizeable wood lots at present were not going to have available funds to prune the trees, especially when the payback was 15 or 20 years away. But he added: “They could plant fewer trees and make sure they prune them”. “There’s always been a market for pruned logs and there’s been relative stability over an extended period of time. “But if you go back the last three or four years, the price has increased and the differential between the pruned logs and the unpruned logs is getting greater.” He said while he was not a sawmill owner, the demand must be there, or they would not keep putting the price up or keep ordering pruned logs if they were able to fill their files.