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Off-Highway Hauling

Reducing fuel consumption, emissions of greenhouse gases, and transportation costs by the implementation of partial or full off-highway hauls in forest operations

The Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) is a non-profit forestry research institute that conducts operational research on all aspects of forestry operations, from harvesting and silviculture through road design, road maintenance, and transportation of forest products to the mill. FERIC's goal is to promote high-quality forestry operations that are both cost-effective and environmentally responsible.

What are they doing?

A typical forestry operation hauls about 400 000 t of wood per year, using around 18 on-highway trucks (assuming a one-way haul distance of 150 km), which works out to 1.89 million L of fuel. In contrast, an off-highway operation similar to the one described above would require a fleet of only 8 trucks, with a total fleet consumption of 1.62 million L. This difference represents a reduction of 14% in a single forestry haul operation. Other benefits include fewer trucks on the roads and a reduction in the number of drivers required. Given these facts, there are clear opportunities to substantially improve the overall energy efficiencies of forestry haul operations that include both gravel road (off-highway) and paved road (highway) components. This can be done in two ways.

First, the off-highway component of the haul could be undertaken by large off-highway trucks that would unload their payload at a transfer yard at the junction of the gravel and paved roads. From this point, on-highway trucks would carry the wood to the mill on paved roads. This approach is relatively uncommon to date, mainly because the extra handling cost at the transfer yard negates any savings on the transportation side. However, given the ever-increasing cost of fuel, increasing haul distances, and the increasing importance forestry companies are placing on reducing energy consumption to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in a green certification context, this type of "multi-modal" transportation is becoming a more attractive option.

Second, a company could switch from their present highway truck system to a system based completely on off-highway hauls. This approach would be applicable in operations where the paved portion of the trip is short, and the existing gravel road could be extended to reach the mill. Again, this has not been done in the past because the cost of building roads usual outweighed the potential transportation savings.

This project aims to examine the factors that influence the cost of implementing both solutions and their impact on fuel consumption and GHG emissions. This analysis will be done by gathering information in various haul operations that presently use off-highway trucks. As well, FERIC will examine the situation in detail in two operations that show good potential for improved efficiency and, if feasible, implement a full or partial off-highway haul in at least one of them. The selected operation will be followed for 1 year to document fuel consumption and the distances traveled. From this information, FERIC will develop a cost model and a decision-support tool that forestry companies can use to determine whether implementing such systems would be economically viable. The tool will summarize the reductions in fuel consumption and GHG emissions, the potential fleet reduction (number of trucks), and the costs involved in the implementation. Finally, results will be broadcast to the industry by means of conferences and workshops as well as through the electronic media and a FERIC Advantage report.

Where can you find more information?

IP Innovations Feric

Date modified:

2010-02-11

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