HarvestTECH News Issue 16

Welcome to the latest issues of HarvestTECH.News.

As the first issue of the year goes out, we’re reminded that COVID-19 still has a big part to play in 2021. At the time of publication, Perth has just entered a 5-day lockdown, as mutated strains of the virus create headaches for the teams attempting to stop the spread. New Zealand has just had a community case and Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne all had partial lockdowns in December. Small outbreaks may be the post COVID-19 normal for some time to come.

On a more positive note, however, both the New Zealand and Australian economies are quickly bouncing back and international trade is expected to grow in 2021.

There are two major events on the horizon that you should have an eye on. HarvestTECH 2021 is running on 13-14 April 2021 in Rotorua, New Zealand. For those who can’t travel, for the first time ever, virtual online tickets will be available for HarvestTECH 2021. This is going to enable all Australians and others outside of NZ to view and participate in every presentation live. Alternatively, if out in the bush or out on the road, you’ll be able to watch it at a later date. The main focus this year is on new technologies and innovations in wood transport, mechanised harvesting and log measurement & scaling.

Running alongside HarvestTECH is Forest Industry Safety & Technology 2021. This one-day event is being held on 13 April 2021 in Rotoura, New Zealand and showcases new practices, systems and tools for improving forest safety. Both events have a huge following and the past events have SOLD OUT. See below for a couple of interesting stories related to these two events.

In this month’s issue we’ve included updates on KiwiRail’s new logging containers that has improved the safety and efficiency of log transport via rail. We also cover a story on one of the leading providers of independent plantation management across Australia, SFM Environmental Solutions, and how they’ve introduced a new haulage and weighing solution to their business that simplifies the tracking of trucks through a mobile app. It eliminates the use of paper dockets and data entry for drivers transporting logs, from collection to through to delivery.

Congratulations go out to Harvestco, who have been awarded the contract for the initial harvest of fire-damaged timber on Kangaroo Island. Also, congrats to Jacob Allum, a New Zealand forest engineering graduate, who has just been awarded the Civil Contractors New Zealand Prize in Pavement Engineering for 2020.

Remember to send through any contributions, stories or links that we can pass onto the wider wood harvesting and log transport community.

Check out all the articles below and enjoy this month’s issue.