Effect of Log Length on Forestry Loading and Unloading

Abstract

This study aimed to technically evaluate loading and unloading with different wood lengths. Data used were obtained from log harvesting areas of a forestry company in southern Brazil, on operations with loblolly pine logs. The study addressed the analysis of time and motion, being divided into loading, unloading, mooring and unmooring. Four treatments with different log lengths, number of safety straps and number of sampled vehicles were analyzed. Analysis of variance and Tukey test were used to evaluate differences among treatments. Loading and unloading productivity increase of 114% and 92% was observed, respectively, when log length increased from 2.4 m to 7 m. When log length increased, productivity and yield of hours/work also increased. Loading was negatively influenced by the environment where the activity was carried out.

Comparing Hot and Cold Loading in an Integrated Biomass Recovery Operation

“…Machine rate calculations showed that the hourly cost of operating a loader was $99.66 PMH −1 (Table 2), which is comparable to other research done in the region [26]. Studies have shown that unfavorable conditions such as steep terrains and limited landing space can negatively impact the loading time [35]. It took around 26 minutes to load a sawlog truck and an average of 25 truckloads were dispatched daily with an average work day lasting 10 hours.…”

Predicting productivity of timber loading operations: a literature review

“…Log volume is one of the important factors impacting the loading productivity. Larger log volumes can result in higher productivity due to increase work efficiency in handling larger pieces (Ghaffariyan et al 2012;Arcego et al 2019). Thus, the size of logs can be an important consideration when choosing suitable size/ type of the loader (and the size of the timber trucks) in order to eliminate any potential deficiency in loading (and haulage) operations.…”

“…The highest productivity at 177 ton/ PMH 0 was achieved by loading 7.0 m logs using four straps (note the values in m 3 were not reported). The mean productivity for all study treatments was 144.7 ton/PMH 0 (Arcego et al 2019).…”

“…Grapple loaders are also used in Brazilian forest operations. A case study was carried out by Arcego et al (2019) in pine stands (Pinus taeda) in Otacilio Costa, Brazil. Trees were felled with a feller-buncher then skidded to the roadside with a grapple skidder to be processed to logs using a mechanical processor.…”

“…Trees were felled with a feller-buncher then skidded to the roadside with a grapple skidder to be processed to logs using a mechanical processor. Then a tracked based Komatsu PC200 (Figure 4) was used to load the short logs into the B-double timber trucks with the gross weight of 57 t. Log length varied from 2.4 m to 7.0 m. The log (Arcego et al 2019) bundles were equipped with four to eight safety straps. The results showed that average loading productivity for 2.4 m logs (using six straps) was 105.8 ton/PMH 0 .…”