Characteristics and Concerns of Logging Businesses in the Southeastern United States: Results from a State-Wide Survey from Alabama

Abstract

A mail survey of Alabama logging firms was conducted in collaboration with the Alabama Loggers Council (ALC) in the spring of 2023 to gather data for current and future assessments of the logging industry’s status and challenges. The response rate was 23.02% after two mailings. The average age of the business respondents was 56 and the average age of employees was 48. About 35% of owners expected to exit the industry within five years, with one-third of those reporting that their business would cease to operate. Most owners who plan to continue operating after five years expect to maintain the same production level. The primary challenges facing logging businesses are increasing operating and equipment costs, the lack of labor and truck drivers, and mill issues (including quotas, shutdowns, and slow operations). COVID-19 has had some effects on Alabama logging operations, including reducing production for a majority of businesses.

Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Logging Contractors in Sweden: A Survey on Personnel Absenteeism, Safety Measures and Economic Impacts

“…For forwarders, the increase was even higher, as the hourly cost for this type of work became 32.3% more expensive during the same period [32]. Rising costs are not something that only Swedish logging contractors have experienced in recent years, but this is also pointed out as a major challenge among logging contractors in, for example, the USA [22]. As shown by this study, a significant share of logging contractors consider it difficult to transfer these increases in costs to their customers, which consequently weakens the contractors' financial situation.…”

“…Consequently, it could be assumed that the demand for logging services was favorable during the pandemic. However, in some markets, such as parts of Asia and the United States, it has been found that many logging firms were forced to reduce their production during the pandemic, with significant economic impacts [22][23][24][25]. In addition, there are indications that contractors had different approaches to preventive measures when it comes to reducing the spread of infection.…”

Evaluating the impact of wood flow management software on administrative costs and efficiency for wood suppliers in the Southeastern U.S.: a case study of Timber Resource Analytics and Contract Tracking software

“…However, the intricacies associated with management of wood supply chains have presented numerous challenges, spanning logistical complexities to administrative time and expense burdens. The southeastern U.S. forest industry utilizes a wood dealer and logging business system for timber procurement (Conrad et al 2018;Bowman et al 2023), with the most common and productive harvesting operations being fully mechanized, implementing a whole-tree harvesting system (Barrett et al 2017;Conrad et al 2018;Conrad and Dahlen 2019). Logging businesses harvest and deliver timber to wood processing facilities (Barrett et al 2017;) and provide a means to monetize forestland investment and biological growth (Mei et al 2013).…”

“…The wood dealer traditionally assesses the standing timber's value and engages in negotiations for stumpage prices with landowners or places sealed bids for the timber. Furthermore, wood dealers negotiate delivered prices with mills or processing facilities (Conrad et al 2018, Bowman et al 2023. Distinguishing between logging businesses and wood dealers can pose challenges due to hybrid business units that function as both a logging business and a timber supplier, commonly referred to as a logger/supplier.…”