Hardware, sofTware and serviceharvesting performed on the island of innerstö, off the coast ofsweden's hudiksvall municipality, places more than the usual demandson forwarders. Göran svahn of Via skog and PonssE buffalo.a lOGGiNG SiTEiN ThE archiPElaGOLogging carried out on an uninhabited island off the Swedish coast poses more than the usualdemands on contractors and machine operators."The harvesting itself does not really entail anything out of the ordinary, but transport takestime and one has to be prepared to take care of oneself on the island," says Kjell Magnusson,whose company Bäckskogen AB operates from the municipality of Hudiksvall in Sweden.The forwarder drives to the ferry to lift itscargo to the bundling place.14Ponsse <strong>News</strong> 1 • <strong>2011</strong>
Hardware, sofTware and serviceIt is early in summer and an early morning inMössön. On the tongue of land east of Hudiksvall,Kjell Magnusson and Göran Svahn areabout to set off for work in an open boat. Thecrossing takes a minimum of twenty minutes,so the men are clad in warm floatation garmentsand headgear. The well-clothed menbear more resemblance to snowmobilers thanloggers heading to the sunny islands."This early in the summer the sea is stillchilly, especially at this hour of the day. Wehave to dress warmly. It's as important for thesake of warmth as it is for safety, just in casesomething did go wrong and we found ourselvesin the water," says Kjell.a jOB ON aN iSlaNdKjell drives his first shift of the day with his<strong>PONSSE</strong> Ergo harvester, partnering up withGöran, whose forwarder vehicle is a <strong>PONSSE</strong>Buffalo. Both machines are ideal for final fellingpurposes."We have worked together for years, on themainland as well as on the islands. This is becomingjust another routine job for us," saysGöran.It is probably quite a thing to spend one ortwo summery months in the Swedish archipelagoand even get paid for it."It is nice and the scenery is magnificentat times. But you don't have too much time toenjoy the surroundings when you work sinceyou need to perform work in the usual way. Ihaven't taken a single swim in the sea," saysKjell, dispelling any illusions of an idyllic summerjob.<strong>In</strong>nerstön is one of four relatively big islandslocated southeast of Hudiksvall. True toits name, the island is the one closest to themainland. <strong>In</strong> the old days, the island was hometo a fishing village and a pilot station, but nowadaysit is uninhabited."The island does, however, have a visitor'sharbour and a house owned by the companyHolmen Skog, so we do see people from timeto time other than our colleagues," observesKjell.ExPEriENcE iS ThE kEyBäckskogen and Via Skog are among themost experienced entrepreneurs of Holmeninvolved in island harvesting. That is also whythey were chosen for the job. The island's forestshave been well managed and this is evidentin the quality of the harvested timber."Logging in island conditions is both laboriousand expensive. We are performing finalfelling at this point so that the value of the timberwill not suffer. The spruce logs are destinedfor Finland, whereas the pulpwood andpine log will be handled by us at Iggesund,"says Martin Karlsson, head of production atHolmen Skog AB.Transporting machines and floating logs tothe port generate additional costs and the contractorraises the price of a contract by ten percent to cover the costs."There must be a certain amount of forestthat is ready for harvesting for the harvestingto be worthwhile. <strong>In</strong>nerstön isa relatively big island, roughly the sizeof two hundred hectares. We estimatethat we will be harvesting some 5,000–8,000 cubic metres per summer during thecoming two years," says Martin.uNuSual TraNSPOrTaTiONDue to practical matters, contractors have agood two months to spend on island cutting."The weather is usually ideal from mid-May until the end of July. After the autumnstorms begin, nobody wants to float the logs orferry the machinery over," says Kjell.He arrived on the island on the first ferry,accompanied by a harvester, a site hut and afuel tank."Jan-Anders Larsson's ferry is a former carferry, so although the ride took several hours,the twenty-tonne weight of the harvesterwasn't a problem," says Kjell.After a couple of days of cutting, GöranSvahn arrived on site in a similar fashion – accompaniedby his forwarder and site hut."The most important function of the sitehuts is to serve as backup just in case it's windyand we have to stay on the island," explainsGöran.Once the machinery and huts have beenreadied and the work has commenced, one stillneeds to get on site and away from there oncea shift ends."We drive a boat to catch our shift. SinceVia Skog and Bäckskogen both have their ownmotor boats, the arrangement works well."The trip may take anywhere from twentyminutes to an hour depending on the weatherand the wind. When the fog gets thick or thewind particularly strong, it can get really coldin the boat."I'm no seafarer. My family worries and alwayswants to know that I've crossed over safely,"says Kjell. He is also inclined to stay on theisland when the weather gets bad.TrEES frOm ThE fOrEST TO ThE SEaThe final felling work performed by Kjell is exactlythe same as it would be on the mainland."Sometimes you get to see pretty spectacularvistas from the highest points of the island.The crew has also developed a good team spiritsince we are so isolated. But apart from that,the work is the same as any other harvestingjob," says Kjell.The forwarder's job, however, is different."As usual, we collect the logs following thecutting. Sometimes the transport route for thelogs is really long as they have to be drivendown to the ferry. At the shore, we lift the logsto the bundling site adjacent to the ferry. Theferry men then secure a rope around the bundleand it's dropped into the water."The logs included in any one bundle mustalso comprise a mixture of different speciesof trees – pines and deciduous trees have tobe bundled up with spruce logs to prevent thebundle from sinking.The finished bundles are left floating in thesalt water in pairs, until they form a 300-metrelong queue or approximately 1,500 solidcubic metres (m3). Only at this point are thelogs towed to the harbour of Skärnäs and fromthere on to the industrial district of Iggesund,where the quantity of the wood is measured."Floating is an excellent method of transportationin terms of controlling bark beetles,even though it's not my favourite job to fishthe logs out of the water if the rope gives way,"says Göran.Runaway logs must be pushed next to theferry with the help of a steel barge and the logsare then re-lifted to the bundling place by aforwarder who has backed up next to the ferry.dON'T PaNicIf something happens on the island, one cannotalways just call for help."When my harvester had a flat tire, it hadto be taken ashore, first on the ferry, and thento the garage. It was somewhat difficult, butwe did get the tire fixed in the end," adds Kjell.And when the fuel tank holding four cubicmetres of fuel is empty it, too, must be takenashore for refilling. <strong>In</strong> practice, this means orderinga road tanker to the harbour and gettingthe timing right."Spending the night on the island becauseof the wind adds a bit of excitement to ordinarylife. A forest fire that flared up in the cuttingarea was a more serious incident," says Göran.The most likely explanation for that incidentwas that the harvester's underbody shield orthe forwarder's caterpillar tracks hit a rock andignited a spark left smouldering there. At firstno-one noticed the start of the fire, and oncethe wind picked up, the flames were rising."It took two hours for the firefighting crewto get here on their boat. But we didn't haveany real luck putting the fire out before thefirefighting helicopter arrived on scene," saysGöran. He is thankful for the one remainingsummer of logging left on the island of <strong>In</strong>nerstö.Of course, there will be plenty of loggingto be done on other islands after that."The team spirit is unbeatable. We are inthe habit of throwing a nice barbecue beforethe closure of cuttings such as this," says Kjell.Ponsse <strong>News</strong> 1 • <strong>2011</strong> 15
Change language