Economic Evaluation of Forest Harvesting With Harvester and Forwarder

Abstract

-Due to the high cost of acquisition and preservation of machines used in the operations of forest harvest, it is necessary to know the profitability of its purchase and up to what point its usage is profitable. Thus the aim of this work was to evaluate economically the activities of felling and timber extraction held by skidders harvester and forwarder up to approximately 30,000 hours of work. Seventeen forest machines were used: 5 harvesters John Deere model 1270D, and 5 harvesters John Deere model 1470D, with power of 215 hp (160 kW) and 241 hp (180 kW), respectively, and 7 forwarders John Deere model 1710D, with power of 215 hp (160 kW). The data base supplied by a forestry company located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, containing all the necessary information to obtain the equilibrium point, the annual equivalent cost (AEC) and the internal return rate (IRR) was used. The equilibrium point was used to determine the amount of minimum hours the machines should work. The AEC was used to determine the profitability of the operation. In 2013 it was not possible to find a number of working hours that did not cause loss for either the harvester or the forwarder. The substitution point for the harvester or the forwarder through the AEC was not found. The harvester presented investment profitability in 2011 of 67.43%. The forwarder presented an internal rate or return of 34.00% in 2011.

Economic and operational analysis of tomato mechanized harvesting systems for industrial processing

“…These results corroborate with Janini (2008), evaluating mechanized and semi-mechanized transplantation of sugarcane. Oliveira et al (2009) and Santos et al (2016) evaluated different forest harvesting systems and concluded that the greater the operational efficiency of a system, the lower the cost of your operation.…”

“…In this context, from the detailing of the costs of production in the forest harvest, Santos et al (2016) evaluated that the maximum value of the IRR on the investment of a harvester and a forwarder was obtained in the fifth year. This is useful for two evaluations, with depreciation up to the sixth year of useful life and with depreciation until the fourth year of useful life being the percentage of the order with 34 and 21%, respectively.…”