An investigation into the shorthaul transport of pulpwood in South Africa

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Ackerman PA. 2001. An Investigation into the Shorthaul Transport of Pulpwood inSouth Africa. M.Sc. in Forestry thesis. University of Stellenbosch. 178 ppShorthaul transport also known as secondary intermediate transport (SIT), a uniquefeature of pulpwood transport in South Africa, is an additional transport phase withintraditional secondary transport. SIT originates at a roadside landing or depot andterminates at another depot, rail siding or merchandising area (not the final destination).The reason for the addition of SIT into the transport chain is identified as the steadydecline of forest road conditions to the extent that highway vehicles are unable to reachroadside landings, necessitating the use of intermediate storage sites, from where thetimber is once again loaded and transported to final destination.An industry survey established that the decline of forest road conditions are related toexcessively high road densities, insufficient funding for road maintenance/upgradingand the lack of understanding by landowners of the importance of maintaining forestroad infrastructure. Total funding, by pulpwood companies on roads have shown anincrease of R18.55 million from 1997 to 2000, however, subsequent surveys haveindicated, that despite this increase in funding, the forest road conditions continuedeteriorating.Of the total annual pulpwood intake of 9.39 million tonnes for 1998, 3.7 million tonnesare subject to SIT. Of this 3.7 million tonnes, 2.5 million tonnes are transported fromstump to depot and 1.2 million tonnes are transported from landing to depot. The surveyidentified the agricultural tractor and semi-trailer as the most favoured transport systembetween stump or landing and depot, responsible for transporting 2.22 million tonnesannually. For 1998, manual loading and three wheel log loaders accounted for theloading of 0.6 and 2.1 million tonnes respectively of the 3.7 million tonnes subject toSIT.This survey information, assisted by newly developed terminology, was used to developtransport scenarios for the economic analysis of total cost of the different transportphases. A network analysis model and pixel-based geographic information system(GIS) were combined to analyse the various transport scenarios within three studyareas in the KwaZulu/Natal Midlands, employing SIT on poor, high-density roadnetworks. The simple pixel-based GIS contained information on the forest roadnetwork, surface cover and slopes.The results of the economic analysis highlighted the need for the reduction of roadnetwork density and for the improvement of the remaining network. This wouldeliminate the need for extended primary transport and allow the use of highway vehiclestransporting from the compartment roadside to and past plantation exits. Results showan average annual cost penalty to the industry, by maintaining SIT, to be R43.25 millionor R8.24/m3. By not employing SIT the industry will potentially save R4.60 for everytonne of the 9.4 million tonnes consumed by the pulpwood processing plants during1998.Key words: Network analysis. Pixel-based GIS. Timber transport. Secondarytransport. Secondary intermediate transport. Secondary terminal transport. Extendedprimary transport. Primary transport. Dirichlet tessellations. Shorthaul.Note: Throughout this document a full stop (.) is used as a decimal separator.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University