Challenges in Mechanization Efforts of Small Diameter Eucalyptus Harvesting Operations with a Low Capacity Running Skyline Yarder in Southern China

Abstract

This case study examines the performance of the Igland Hauler employed in small diameter Eucalyptus clear-cut operations in Guangxi, China. A yarding crew of eight persons was monitored by a snap back elemental time study for 19.23 SMH (scheduled machine hours), with 159 yarding cycles and a yarded log volume at landing of 49.4 m³ solid over bark. A gross-productivity of 2.50 m³ /SMH and net-productivity of 5.06 m³ /PMH0 (productive machine hours excluding delay times) was achieved, leading to a machine utilization rate of 49.5%. The costs of the yarder and associated overhead as well as the personnel costs of a large crew with eight people sum up to extraction costs of 50.24 USD/m³ . The high costs make it difficult to compete economically with the locally common manual extraction system as long as abundant labor at a low hourly rate is available in the region. Further performance improvement through skill development, but also technical and organizational system modification in conjunction with rising wages and decreasing labor force in rural primary production will determine the justification of employing such yarding systems. However, new silvicultural regimes with extended rotations and supply OPEN ACCESSForests 2015, 6 2960 requirements of the forest products industry in China demand new operational systems.

Productivity assessment of timber harvesting techniques for supporting sustainable forest management of secondary Atlantic Forests in southern Brazil

“…Special care was taken regarding terrain conditions and the comparability of the selected two stands, in order to relate observed operational difference in the two stands purely to the harvesting methods. Thus, it was confirmed, as in earlier studies, that the most significant factors affecting productivity in both methods were tree dimensions (volume) (Jourgholami et al 2013, Koutsianitis & Tsioras 2016 and extraction distances (winching distance and skidding distance to landing) (Mousavi 2012, Hoffmann et al 2015, Hoffmann et al 2016). …”

“…The harvesting method was considered in the models in form of a dummy variable (CM = 0 and AM = 1). Total effective predicted time consumption was converted into net productivity and gross productivity (Mousavi 2012, Hoffmann et al 2015.…”

Adapting Chinese Forest Operations to Socio-Economic Developments: What is the Potential of Plantations for Strengthening Domestic Wood Supply?

“…The fragmentation of operations as a result of mainly smallholder tenure [67] but also due to the highly bureaucratic harvest permitting system [68], make it difficult to plan annual operations for efficient system utilization in order to reduce operation costs. This applies also to industrial orientated pulp log producers, regardless of applying low capacity technology or state of the art imported fully mechanized equipment [69,70]. Although Engler et al [57] model that within a medium planning horizon even mechanized forwarding based on equipment with high fixed costs (e.g., forwarder) will outcompete manual systems, a survey among forest farm managers show currently only little potential to shift towards more mechanized systems due to the high initial investments and difficulties in operational planning [61].…”

Forest Company Dependencies and Impacts on Ecosystem Services: Expert Perceptions from China

“…Over the past few years, several domestic and international companies have invested in plantation forestry in southern China [33]. However, so far, it has not yet significantly improved the timber supply situation with respect to the emerging domestic forest product industries [24]. Instead, the expansion of Eucalyptus plantation forestry has elicited environmental concerns related to increased consumption of water and reduction in biodiversity, along with social disputes between companies and village collectives about land lease arrangements [34].…”

“…The rapidly developing forest industry in China requires large amounts of natural resources such as land, water and timber. However, excessive timber exploitation and unsustainable use of forest resources by forest companies have caused ecosystem degradation throughout the country [23,24], which has seriously hindered the sustainable development of China's forest industry. Over the past few decades, Chinese forest companies have been under increasing pressures from both local-and global-level stakeholders to reduce their negative impacts on ecosystem services [25][26][27].…”