Forestry in Wairarapa March 2023

FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA

Golden Loader

2023 draws the Crowds

The ÿ rst Golden Loader Competition for forestry 2023 has been completed at the Rural Games in Palmerston North last weekend.

Fourteen competitors from across the North Island competed in heats driving two machines organised by AB Equipment Hire in

Palmerston North. The challenge involved loading and then unloading a logging truck then popping a helium balloon all within a twenty-minute window.

Five judges scrutinise the driving abilities, care with loading, health and safety and speed of competitors over a one-day competition. It has taken two years of preparation and negotiations by the Southern North Island Wood

Council and John Turkington Forestry to bring this event to the square in the middle of a city. Over three days thousands of people attend the rural games, and it is the ÿ rst-time forestry has had a showcase event that was the crowd favourite on Sunday. Hundreds of families and spectators lined the square to watch log trucks and machines working while free kids’ books, tee shirts and caps were handed out to the crowd.

Loader driving is a critical skill in the forestry workplace and many more drivers are required for these positions as our sector becomes more mechanized. Showcasing the skills needed and the pride our forestry community has in its profession is essential to explain how

Golden Loader Winners 2023

1ST Place, The Best of the Best!

Daniel Purcell

our sector works to the public. Most people do not get the opportunity to see these machines work or appreciate how skilled these roles are. Thanks to all involved for organizing this stella event, and we look forward to the Golden Loader for 2024.

Daniel works for CJ Newland Logging in Whanganui, and was one of the ÿ rst competitors to register for the Golden Loader.

He is a very experienced machine driver having worked in crews for 19 years ever since he was shoulder tapped to try out forestry while driving a digger.

He is well known in the forest sector and scored well in the competition for his care with the logs while loading and unloading the

2ND Place

Shaun Allen

truck. Daniel’s family had travelled to watch the event and couldn’t be prouder of him.

Daniel took home the Golden Loader Trophy and $800 of Hunting and Fishing vouchers. Congratulations!

3RD Place

Colin Bush

Shaun works for GT Harvesting in Masterton where he lives with his family. Shaun comes from a forestry family with his father in logging in Northland and he grew up “in the bush”. He has been working for 25 years in the forest contracting business and loves teaching and training new people to drive machines. He showed care and skill with the equipment on the day, and takes home a $500 Hunting and Fishing voucher. We salute you, Shaun!

Colin arrived with his family for the full three days of the Rural Games from the Hawkes Bay, where he currently works for ATS Logging. He is most at home in the bush but operating his machine in front of a crowd of hundreds of people did not faze Colin. He has been working in forestry since 2001 when his brother introduced him to the sector, and he has not looked back since then. We loved seeing his family at this event, and hope you enjoy taking home the $300 Hunting and Fishing Voucher Colin!

Left to right in group photo (Competitors in 2023 Golden Loader Comp) Blayne Bryant (Pedersen Holdings) David Garnett (Logged on Logging)

Johnny

Garnett (Webb Logging,

Colin Bush (ATS Logging) James MacFarlane

(Bay

Forest Harvesting)

,

Aaron Tupene (Cable Harvesting) Caitlyn Thomsen (NAB Logging)

, Daniel Purcell (CJ Newland Logging), Johnathan Brown (McDougall Logging) Kelvin Bouskill (Havendale Logging), Harold Merriman (Stubbs Contracting), Tracey Keefe (McCormick Logging) Shaun Allen (GT Harvesting) Kane Carter (JD Harvesting).

FORESTRY IN WAIRARAPA

Cyclones see drop in timber supply

By Marcus Musson –Director Forest360

The recent cyclones have obviously given the country a real hiding, and, as our teams operate in the rural environment, there are plenty of harvesting crews around the traps that are unable to operate due to road damage. This has seen a signiÿ cant drop in the deliveries to the ports of Napier, Gisborne and Marsden with many exporters in those regions being caught with cargoless vessels.

Gabrielle also laid ° at around 6,000ha of forests in the Turangi/Taupo regions. Aerial photos show the destruction which looks like gods big mitt has been swept across the land and the trees broken o˛ as if they were spaghetti sticks. This area equates to around 2.5 million tonnes of logs and the time clock is ticking for the salvage of this volume as it gets pretty

i˛ y past the 4 month mark once the trees have been blown over. In this case, where the trees have been primarily snapped o˛ rather than blown over with the roots on, the timeframe can be even shorter as, once the bugs get under the bark, they are not suitable for any market other than pulp and ÿ rewood. The net e˛ ect of this windthrow is that there will be crews mobilised from around the regions to deal with this wind damage which will see a blip in the supply volumes from NZ. Whether this will be enough to o˛ set the supply reduction from the other cyclone e˛ ected areas is yet to be seen as it’s likely there’ll be a lag of at least 4 weeks in this volume hitting the ports on mass.

March has seen a signiÿ cant rise in At Wharf Gate (AWG) export prices as exporters scrap for volume and vessels. A grade now sits in the mid to high $140’s/

M3, up around $10/m3 on February and $15/m3 above the three year average. We have higher sales prices and lower Forex to thank for the increase but how much further the in-market sales can be pushed is a guessing game. There has been an increase in o˛ port sales since the return of the Chinese from the Lunar holiday period and this, combined with reduced NZ deliveries, has started to reduce the inventory position across Chinese ports and we have already seen upward pressure on vessel rates which could have an impact on April AWG prices.

The domestic framing timber market will be looking to the post cyclone rebuild as a bit of a lifeline in the face of slowing demand. It’s too early to quantify the size of the residential rebuild project but one would imagine it would be signiÿ cant. Much of

Rewarding careers for

women in forestry

Celebrating International Women’s Day and International Day of Forests in March is a great excuse to talk about women with interesting careers in forestry.

the volume from the wind damage was a staple diet for sawmills and now the next four odd years of supply is on the deck. This will create a shortage of pruned logs in the CNI following the salvage operation and mills will look for supply further aÿ eld.

In summary, the next few months will probably see continued solid pricing as demand outstrips supply, primarily due to supply

constraints rather than an increase in demand, however, the outlook past the end of quarter 2 is anyone’s guess. We had hoped that 2024 was going to bring some stability and better trading conditions as compared the previous two years, but at this point it looks like more of the same with most of us thinking ‘bloody hell what’s next’?

Forest Enterprises is one of New Zealand’s leading forestry investment managers. Our sta˛ come from a wide range of professional and practical backgrounds, from di˛ erent sectors, countries and disciplines. This is

re° ected by some of the women on our team.

Business and ÿ nance

Liz Brown, Co-owner & Group Finance Manager – Liz became a Forest Enterprises owner in 2021. Her ÿ nance and administration team are responsible for the accounting, budgeting and ÿ nancial reporting for the forests we manage as well as for our business. Liz is a qualiÿ ed accountant with an MBA and has run her own businesses.

Environmental management

Hannah Harvey

Environmental & Risk Manager – Hannah manages our environmental

and health and safety responsibilities for the forests we manage. Most of our managed forests are FSC certiÿ ed. Hannah manages our compliance with FSC’s high environmental and social standards for responsible forest management. Hannah is a geologist with a Master of Earth Science.

Data analysis

Dr. Boglarka Nemeth

Forestry Analyst – Bogi works with forest and

ÿ nancial data to produce valuations, wood° ow models and projections required for our strategic and operational plans. Bogi has a PhD in Earth Science focusing on geoheritage conservation and education.

Forest health

Jess Littlejohn Forester – Jess takes care of the tree crop. She manages our silviculture, forestry and planting programmes across our Wairarapa estate to ensure the forests remain

of a high quality. Jess has a BAgSc and has apiary and farming experience. Supply chain Silvia Sze Distribution Manager – Silvia works across our entire log supply chain. She ensures the right log reaches the right customer, e˝ ciently. Silvia’s background is in subsurface drilling projects, and she has degrees in engineering and science.

The Southern North Island Wood Council

a

for

Kinder, SNI Wood Council CEO, can be contacted for more information.

Photo/Supplied: Liz, Hannah, Bogi, Jess and Silvia from Forest Enterprises.