Wood Transport & Logistics 2023 returned to a packed audience, a car park full of large rigs and a range of next-gen technologies on display. Over 250 forestry and log transport companies from across Australasia, North and South America and Europe, joined the two-day technology programme in Rotorua, New Zealand.

With so much effort going into larger transport companies decarbonising their fleets and the innovation and early adoption of electric, hydrogen and dual-fuel hybrid technologies in this part of the world, the place, as expected, was humming.

Like the dramatic switch of consumers to electric passenger vehicles, NZ and Australian log haulage companies have been world leaders in trialling, and already rolling out, these new technologies. Presentations and practical case studies from early industry adopters like Fennel Forestry, Keith Andrews, HW Richardson and TR Group provided early insights into how this technology is actually performing out on the road and in the forest.

As well as being the first dedicated log transport event run for over five years, the event (conference, trade exhibits and pre-and post-conference workshops) was able to cover industry technology firsts for log transport operators including;

• The first Australasian electric log truck using exchangeable batteries
• Operations of the first hydrogen-powered log and timber haulage trucks
• Trial results on running diesel-hydrogen hybrid transport fleets
• Rolling out scalable hydrogen refuelling networks across NZ
• Development of the first off-road in-forest log truck platooning
• Robotic and mobile log scaling measurements
• Operations of new automated chain throwing & tensioning

Workshops and trade exhibitions were used to discuss the technologies in-depth and live demonstrations showcased much of this new equipment to delegates in Rotorua.

The push to adopt new technologies within the logging and transport sector is only growing louder. And based on the level of discussion between attendees over the last two days, the future is bright.

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