Framing the backbone of industrialization trees and its derivatives have been of utmost significance to the society for centuries. Owing to its unparalleled versatility. It’s utilization in contemporary construction and tons of other works spanning from sculpture to furniture making, is in abundance. Unbounded in its usage one can force in a plethora of limitless design possibilities into it. In view of the above stated fact lumber is one of the most traded utilities across borders.
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A tie up linking the harvested lumber with the mill, the timber transport is an affair of utmost significance, one that bears the weight of the economic importance that may account up to 40% – 60% of the whole wood procurement cost.
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The major factors influencing the Transport of lumber are:
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- The proportion of the operation.
- The distance between the geographical location of the forests and the mill weighs in to affect the transport.
- The procedure fashioned to assort the timber in the mill.
- The transportation medium tying up the distance between the source and destination.
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The wood spanning from the softwood coniferous to the hardwood deciduous are the assortments that may vary from the full trees encompassing the branches and long strips of logs to delimbed trees and short wood and chips. The final destination may offer a lenient set up, providing the acceptance of timber of all kinds in oppose to the others that may grant a more strict policy by accepting only specifics.
A league of its own, the lumber trading skirts around the handling, loading and the transport of the lumber strips. These major arms of the trading are entirely mechanized and extensively equipped, being mindful of the welfare and safety of the workers in site.
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Handling and loading of timber:
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The handling and loading phases of the whole affair banks on the stretch betwixt the harvesting joint and mill, where the shorter leg uses the assistance of forest transport equipment scilicet the likes of agricultural tractor entailing a trailer or semi-trailer, while the larger distance calls for a more complex methodology.
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The operation though practiced with utmost precision and meticulousness occasioned the assistance of either manual or mechanical labor. Even as we have ventured into the technical era there are under developed and developing nations with insufficiently financed operations that calls for the aid of the manual labor that entails the execution of lifting, rolling or the use of hand tools like levers, pulleys and hooks in some instances.
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While this rehearsal may be a common trait in the rising nations, the developed nations employs a more refined and polished routine of the operation by wielding swing boom, knuckle boom and many others into play with the semi mechanized loading entailing manual work of attaching and releasing cables alongside guiding the load and so on.
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Modes of transport:
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As the handling and loading leg of the trading is sorted the mode of transport comes into action. The reliance of the mode of transport is declared in terms of the distance, area as well as the capital. While the road transport aces any other form of transport with it’s brisk pace, economical pliability and flexibility with door to door service, the rail and water transport to this day are functional and very much a part of the nations like Canada, United States, Russia and China.
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- Road transport: the genus of vehicle under employment is cataloged under the dimension of the lumber, condition of the road as well as the availability and accessibility of the capital. Axle trucks are deployed into use shouldering a weight from a measly 5 to around 130 tons or more.
- Water transport: even with the declining demand for the water transport countries like Canada, Finland, US Amazon and many others use the assistance of water ways with the logs being dispatched to the waterfront by the aid of trucks, where they are loaded onto boats and ships relying on scale of the operation. International lumber trade bank heavily on the water ways.
- Rail transport: the commendable rail ways network of the nations like Canada, Finland Russia with brilliant intermediate landing pads paved way for large scale trading to be carried effortlessly. The employment of standard freight cars and special modified timber carrying vehicles are used with the assistance of large cranes for loading and unloading of the lumber wedges.
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TIMBER TRADE IN THE NORTH AMERICA
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The demand and the exigency of timber and timber tailored products in the North America are unparalleled. With an unrivalled standard of living, the continent dominates the timber industry. The affluent abundance of the forest aided America in banking the number one position in both the national and international trades.
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- Lumber trade in the United States: with a woodland cover of about one third of the entire land and easy accessibility of the said lands the USA governs a strong hold over the trading industry with the production of roughly 20 percent sawn wood, and 14 percent of the newsprint of the world. Yet the percentage holds minuscule value in domestic markets where the majority have the raw elements imported from the Canadian forests.
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The lion’s share of the harvested timber embodies the softwood. Bagging the second position in the production of conifers, the USA stands just next to USSR. The prime harvesting regions of the states are the pacific north- west, the south and the northern- eastern forests.
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- Pacific north west: the terrain owing to the heavy rainfall and mild climatic ambiance have lush and luxuriant coastal forests that accounts to an annual timber output of about 50 percent of the States, the western region bestows the nation with a mass production of Douglas firs, Sitka spruces , cedars and even breeds like the sequoias and redwoods.
- The south: garlanded with wide stretches of yellow pine forests comprising of longleaf, loblolly pines and slash, the south dominated the timber trade of the states in the early twenties but was replaced in the race by the western terrains with lush production of conifers. Lugging the second place right next to the west tropical, the south yields about one third of the US timber production owing to its warm and moist climate that assists in the brisk growth of the forests.
- Northern and eastern forests: though not as giant in the present era the eastern regions banked a celebrated position in the nineteenth century with mass production of spruce and firs alongside white, red and jack pine. Due to the dearth of replanting and escalation of the agricultural industry the forests suffered a depletion and a gradual downfall to the lowest ranking in the US in terms of timber production.
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- Lumber trade in Mexico: Mexico has covered great strides in blooming it’s timber industry to further it’s position in the trading racket with proper administrative management of the temperate pine and oak woodlands and subtropical and tropical forests. The states of Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Chiapas and many regions of central Mexico invest in mass production of the genus of Pinus, Abies and Quercus. The harvesting titles of the nation are bagged by the states of Jalisco, Michoacán, Chiapas, Yucatan peninsula and pacific foothills alongside the transition zones from tropical forests to cloud forests, with the trade entailing varieties of tall, medium, and low evergreen rainforests.
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TIMBER TRADE IN THE EUROPE
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The trade in Europe is harnessed with a scientific and technical balance with the forest management cadre mapping out the regions that are equipped with mass production of the lumber aiding the areas of dense population with heavy demand of lumber and lumber themed products. The Scandinavian countries namely Sweden (with about 50 percent of forested land) and Finland (with a forest cover of approximately three quarters) lugged with tremendous thriving, dense and exuberant forest covers are chief timber providers for the major parts of the European countries. The nations of Britain, Ireland, Denmark and many others have depleted their expanse of woodland and even with some attempts at redeeming the lost position for instance in the lands and massif central of France, the ever towering demand is expeditiously overthrowing the supply. The scots pine, Norway spruce, fir, and larch exploited for both sawn wood and paper and pulp are the majors that dominate the timber trade of the European inlands. Conduction of import from Canada is also carried to sate the ever growing demands.
TIMBER TRADE IN THE USSR
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Graded as the leading production of timber in the world with the assistance of the rich and generous extent of conifers the dominant varieties ruling the trading realm are the fir which encompasses the Siberian fir and silver fir, spruce, pine and larch. The abundance of hardwoods in the south and west of the nations also aids in solidifying its rank with the mass yield of about 15 percent of the worlds timber. The lion’s share of the exports are entailed with production of logs for sawn woods and pulping.
Ruling with an unparalleled dominance the North America, Europe and the USSR accounts for over half the world’s timber yield with also an unrivaled consumption far ahead of any other nation.
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