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Highlights • For combined heat and power plants in Austria procuring forest fuels, the most competitive transport mode is road transport using walking-floor trucks. • The main barriers for a modal shift are the plant managers' negative experiences with the railroad. • Rail transport has its benefits, when high volumes are needed and transport distances are long.

Primary forest fuel transport chains – state of the art and innovations Transport modes available for primary forest fuel are truck, train and ship, while truck transport is predominant. Primary forest fuel requires an initial road transport in most of the cases. The comparison of different transport modes shows that distance-variable costs are highest for truck transport and lower for train and ship. However, because the very high transshipment costs must be compensated, long transport distances are required for train and ship to become more profitable than the road. The allocation of the comminution process determines the form of transported material and is, therefore, crucial for the whole supply system. According to that, transport chains are classified and explained from a practical point of view.