China imported 30% of its total volume of softwood logs from Europe in 2020 and2021, thus surpassing supply from Russia and North America. European softwood logs were practically non-existent at Chinese ports five years ago. However, a combination of a never-ending hunger for more wood in the country, reductions in shipments from previously significant trading partners, and an oversupply of …

Historically there is little love lost between the mining industry and green groups. However, the two may now have some common ground in the pursuit of better EV technology and a broader rollout across Australia. Australia’s resource industry is well positioned to benefit from the EV revolution, having a wealth of nickel, copper, lithium and other elements required to power …

Volvo Construction Equipment says it is the first company in the world to trial a remote-controlled high-lift wheel loader over a 5G network in a complex forestry application – in a bid to develop safer, more productive timber processes and explore its potential as an enabler for automation. The Remote Timber research project is a collaboration between Volvo CE and …

On 10 November Pacific Forest Products Ltd (PFP) completed the loading of the largest log vessel ever to load from Australasia. The Conrad Oldendorff was chartered by PFP’s subsidiary South Pacific Shipping Ltd (SPS) from Oldendorff Carriers with the aim of creating new economies of scale through the port of Tauranga. The Post Panamax vessels have no ships cranes and …

A dramatic drop in global log prices has impacted on operations in the East Coast region of New Zealand and some forestry crews face a lean Christmas until prices lift again and full production hopefully resumes. Eastland Wood Council (EWC) chief executive Philip Hope said global economic factors could have major repercussions for the forestry industry while a prominent contractor …

Dr Glen Murphy was presented with the International Forest Engineering Achievement Award at the 2021 Council on Forest Engineering (COFE) Conference held in September in Corvallis, Oregon. The award recognizes and honours significant achievements in forest engineering by individuals for outstanding service and sustained contributions to the profession through education, extension, research, development, or administration. Thirty-five International Forest Engineering Awards …

With its brand-new design, the Komatsu X164E has been specially developed to efficiently harvest eucalyptus. When developing this head, Komatsu Forest’s engineering team put aside all existing head designs for softwood trees and instead focused solely on the needs and conditions of eucalyptus harvesting. “To minimise losses in production time, we established strict requirements for the debarking function. With the …

In a world full of cords, cables and wires, life without them is still mainly a vision. That, however, shouldn’t stop us from moving in the wireless direction. The fact is that if there isn’t even a cable to begin with, then obviously the risk for entanglement or breakdown is eliminated. The Dasa Wireless 1 is one vital step towards …