UPM Biofore Magazine 1-2019

TEXT Janne Suokas

“THE BENEFITS ARE increased if the HCT combination vehicles carry a full load both there and back,” says Pirjo Venäläinen, Senior Research Scientist at Metsäteho.

Remote road mainte- nance

but it also doubles as a storage method. Free storage makes it environmentally sound and commercially profitable,” he says. Korhonen calculates that floating uses only a third of the energy used in vehicle transports and half of that used in railway and ship transports. One floating raft is so big that transporting a corresponding amount of wood by road would take hundreds of truckloads. Floating is made possible by the convenient location of mills and their expertise in receiving and using floated wood. Wood is transported to the Kaukas mill in Lappeenranta and the Pellos plywood mill in Ristiina from Joensuu through the Saimaa water system. The journey, which is approximately 260 kilometres, takes five days. Even though UPMForest uses the floating method less often than other wood transport options, its active use promotes the company’s competitiveness in logistics. Different transport methods do not compete with each other but offer flexible options for finding the safest, most profitable and least environmentally harmful solution for varying transport needs. “Little streams make big rivers. Responsible management and rules are necessary, but the right attitude is the most important thing. With the right mindset, we can only succeed,” Korhonen believes. 

The appearance of HCT trucks on Finnish roads has spurred discussion about the condition of Finland’s road infrastructure. The maintenance and development of transport routes not only improves road safety and traffic flow, but also economic competitiveness, because distances in Finland are long and the biggest markets are overseas. Low- volume road networks must be kept in good condition for the forest industry to generate exports and employment. The funding for the maintenance of paved roads, dirt roads and bridges are decided by the Finnish parliament. Väylä, formerly known as the Finnish Transport Agency, reports that EUR 2.5 billion of road repair debt has been accumulated, which comes to approximately EUR 450 per citizen. Innovative methods and technologies for road maintenance have recently been studied in pilot projects, many involving the use of advanced automation and digitalisation. Road condition data is for instance sourced from the drivers of wood trucks utilising smartphone camera sensors interpreted with the help of computer vision. This way, the condition of the road network can be monitored remotely, and certain routes can be blocked as necessary to avoid excess strain. As the population declines and is scattered across many parts of Finland, rescue operations, land owners and recreational nature lovers can all benefit from these new data collection methods. 

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