In August 2018 Caterpillar Inc. announced plans to sell its forestry business to Weiler Forestry Inc. Caterpillar and Weiler have now entered into a definitive agreement to sell Cat’s purpose-built forestry business. The deal will close in Q3 2019. In November last year, Gough Cat announced that they’d entered into an agreement with United States company Weiler Incorporated to distribute …

American Loggers Council welcomes launch of Future Logging Careers Act, saying allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to work in mechanized logging operations under parental supervision will help meet future workforce needs while supporting small family businesses The American Loggers Council (ALC) has applauded the introduction of the bipartisan Future Logging Careers Act in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. …

The Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology has recently completed another update of their New Zealand Forestry Contractors Business Review. The results are summarised below and a copy of their latest full report is attached. This review represents the views of more than 115 contractor crews from all regions in New Zealand. Of these, 24 per cent state the risk of …

There’s nothing more frustrating than watching an impressive 35-m tall Radiata pine topple to the ground and then shatter into two or more pieces. That stem has now not only lost a chunk of its value, it has also become harder to get those fractured pieces back up to the landing or skid site, compared to a wholly intact tree. …

The New Zealand government’s proposal to reform vocational education could undermine the success of training and apprenticeships at a time of critical skills shortages in forestry, says industry training organisation (ITO) Competenz. Chief executive Fiona Kingsford is encouraging the forestry industry to this week provide feedback on the plan, which includes replacing all 16 polytechs with a new national organisation …

A group of New Zealand women have found employment together in an unlikely industry as new figures show job advertisements in the Bay of Plenty are soaring. CNI Logging has been working with 18 women as part of a process to choose an 11-strong, all-female team to work in silviculture. Health and safety recruitment officer Joe Taute said he believed …

Nearly a year after its official launch, New Zealand’s Eastland Wood Council-driven Generation Programme is proving its worth in multiple ways. Launched in April last year the programme had its first intake of 14 trainees in October, with most of those now gainfully employed within the industry. The programme is now accepting enrolments for its second intake. Generation Programme manager …

Tigercat continues to set the bar high with the introduction of the new 890 logger – the largest machine in the Tigercat forestry equipment line-up – a heavy duty, purpose-built forestry carrier that can be configured for loading, shovel logging or processing. Weighing 47 900 kg (105,600 lb), the Tigercat 890 is the largest, highest capacity machine in Tigercat’s purpose …

Forestry Corporation of NSW kicked off 2019 with a series of safety campaigns and workshops to put safety first after the holiday break. The Safe Start campaign was targeted at forestry drivers, operators and staff to help everyone make the transition back to work. The campaign focused on two key driver risks – fatigue and distractions, said Forestry Corporation Haulage …

Komatsu America Corp. a leading global heavy equipment manufacturer, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire TimberPro, Inc. The acquisition is expected to close on April 1st 2019, subject to completion of the closing conditions. Established in 2002, TimberPro is a Wisconsin-based manufacturer of purpose-built forest machines and attachments, offering tracked feller bunchers and harvesters, forwarders, …

Smaller scale forest owners in New Zealand (those owning less than 1000 hectares) made up 30% of the national plantation forest estate in 2017 (MPI, 2017). Recent forecasts indicate that the potential harvest volumes available from these small-scale owners’ forests could increase from 8 million cubic metres per year to around 15 million cubic metres per year from 2020 through …

A healthy and safe crew is a happy crew. Warwick Wilshier knows that all too well through the extra measures he has put in place to benefit drivers at his logging truck companies Williams and Wilshier and Pacific Haulage. Starting work an hour later on Mondays and an annual three-month fitness programme called Lose Your Load have proved hugely successful. …

As outlined in an earlier release a couple of weeks ago, John Deere Construction & Forestry and Hitachi Construction Machinery (Australia) Pty Ltd had announced they were ending a successful 29-year distribution arrangement of Deere branded and manufactured construction, forestry, and compact machinery in Australia. In line with this change, AFGRI Equipment has been appointed by John Deere to distribute …

Commercial vehicle manufacturer, Scania, is testing a new generation autonomous transport system at Rio Tinto’s Dampier Salt operations in Western Australia. The first phase of the trial started August 2018, involving a Scania XT 8×4 autonomous tipper working separately from Dampier’s active operations. During this initial stage, a safety driver reportedly rides in the vehicle to observe the truck’s performance …

A recent project undertook load restraint testing to ascertain the engineering qualities of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE e.g. Dyneema®) rope as an effective mean of load restraint for industry and to continue to collect data to build on previous load restraint testing. The overall intent of the load restraint testing was to refine existing load restraint methods to improve …

If you have a business that is experiencing the following ‘symptoms’ read on…… – Are your costs rising? – Are mistakes on the increase? – Are your efficiency levels unsatisfactory? – Are your profits evaporating? – Could the morale and culture of your people be better? The good news is that it’s all reversible, but the first step is to …

In addition to the very latest in harvesting technology, new innovations and new operating practices that are making such a huge difference to New Zealand, Australian and North American harvesting contractors, an extra bonus for harvesting crews, harvest planners and forest managers has been added to the HarvestTECH 2019 event running in Rotorua on 26-27 June. The logging historian, Paul …

Caterpillar launches the industry’s first mobile app designed to allow customers who spend their time in a truck, at the job site and on-the-go to take advantage of equipment telematics data. The new Cat® App delivers simplified, streamlined data directly to mobile devices, helping customers monitor machine location and health, react faster to fault codes and maximize uptime. The culmination …

John Deere Construction & Forestry Company (Deere) and Hitachi Construction Machinery (Hitachi) have had a long and successful global partnership spanning multiple continents and product lines. This partnership has served both companies well and supported each company’s global growth over the multi-decade relationship. However, after 29 years of distribution Deere, Hitachi, and HCA have agreed to end the current distribution …

In December we were fortunate to get an update on the very popular work being delivered to log transport companies and their drivers up and down New Zealand. This is important initiative being led by the Log Transport Safety Council (LTSC) in New Zealand. In the course of the meeting, LTSC’s Bruce Nairn made mention of the high levels of …

The last wood harvesting event ran two years ago in New Zealand. It was a sell-out. Same story two years before this in 2015. Over 450 met at both events in Rotorua, New Zealand. Both also saw the largest gathering of logging contractors, forestry managers, forest owners, suppliers and harvest planners ever seen in New Zealand. It wasn’t only the …

Scott Thomas is a young man with an exciting future. Aged just 21, he is currently working for Gamble Forest Harvesting in a fully mechanised 8-man hauler crew in Otago. Scott has found his passion, and that is driving big harvesting machines. I caught up with Scott in Flagstaff Forest, part of the City Forests estate high above Dunedin, during …

A few years ago, American logger Eric Krume expressed some frustration that technology had not moved quickly enough to adapt to Pacific Northwest conditions and dynamics. A lot has changed since then. To address this, Eric constantly seeks technology with flexible solutions to suit the differing forest conditions his logging crews encounter from one setting to the next. His inventiveness …

Following on from the early announcement at the end of last year, full details of the two-yearly wood harvesting event, HarvestTECH 2019 have now been set in place and full details can now be found on the event website, www.harvesttech.events. The 2015 harvesting event, HarvestTECH was a SELL OUT. The 2017 event likewise sold out. Both at the time were …

Networking is an investment in business development and a recently published paper on tensile force monitoring in steep slope harvesting jointly written by Canada’s FPInnovations’ steep slope initiative (SSI) scientists and researchers at an Italian university exemplifies that golden rule. The seed for the collaboration was planted at the Forestry Mechanization (FORMEC) conference, held annually in Europe. Initial discussions at …

Rayonier Matariki Forests and Crew 21, from Maungawaru Logging this month celebrated the completion of an extremely challenging harvesting operation in Oponae Forest, New Zealand. Crew 21 has had to navigate steep terrain and unstable ground, manage unpredictable weather patterns and cope with flooding of the Waioeka Gorge over seven years of intense steep slope harvesting in Oponae Forest. Rayonier …

Gough Cat has announced this week an agreement with United States company Weiler Incorporated to distribute its forestry product line in New Zealand. Founded in 2000, Weiler has a long history of successfully manufacturing equipment distributed through the global Cat dealer network, says Gough Cat Executive General Manager Chris Heaton. “These products complement the Caterpillar forestry machines that Gough Cat …

FPInnovations and its partners took truck platooning research a giant step further and earned a spot in history by successfully road testing the emerging technology in the deep forests of Quebec in the first trial of its kind in Canada. The day-long trial in late October took place in Rivière-aux-Rats, Quebec and signals the beginning of a transformation of the …

Waratah Forestry Equipment is proudly celebrating 45 years of innovation and serving customers in the forestry industry. Established in Tokoroa, New Zealand in 1973, the company transitioned to meet local loggers’ heavy-duty delimbing needs, creating a delimber-feller-buncher featuring a four-roller fixed head. Following that innovation, a red grapple processor for the Canadian markets marked the beginnings of the 600 Series …

In last week’s issue we asked for more good news stories to profile the industry, particularly to the younger generation. Attached is one supplied by Rayonier Matariki Forests. The company is stumping up tuition fees for its Southland contractors to train their apprentices in a bid to encourage school leavers to join the NZ forestry industry. Tuatapere brothers, Jackson and …

FPInnovations, Canada has announced the renewal of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Forest Growers Research (FGR) of New Zealand to widen the scope of their information exchange in the area of steep slope harvesting, and to facilitate the international exchange of their combined research. FPInnovations and FGR are mutually interested in forest technology and will share expertise in cooperative …

Much is said about the emergence of autonomous cars on our streets, but enclosed areas like ports, factories and corporate campuses may well be where they are put to work first. With this in mind, Volvo has just announced a new electric vehicle concept built to tow loads around these kinds of environments all on their lonesome, so much so …

Caterpillar, Inc. announced last Wednesday that it has entered into a preliminary agreement with Weiler, Inc. to sell the Cat purpose-built forestry business. The sale is subject to negotiation of a final agreement, the closing of which is expected by early 2019. Caterpillar will continue to provide forestry excavators designed for log loading, processing and other forestry applications, in addition …

New start-up, Einride, recently participated as an exhibitor at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Future Lab, together with Roborace, Jetpack Aviation and others. The T-log was unveiled by Einride CEO Robert Falck and Charles Gordon-Lennox, the 11th Duke of Richmond, who has hosted the festival at his estate since 1993. Showcasing the world’s first autonomous, all-electric logging truck, Einride was …