Forest Talk – News

Liebherr shows off extra-high timber stacker

Liebherr has unveiled the L580 2plus2 LogHandler wheel loader, developed specifically to satisfy the needs of the forestry sector.

A special lift frame enables timber to be picked up at a considerable height in the same way as material handlers. The Liebherr LogHandler is therefore ideally equipped for loading and unloading trucks, feeding material to debarking and sorting plants, or picking up material from high stacks, among other tasks

An extensive array of grabs in a variety of patterns and sizes have been developed and produced in-house by Liebherr – a guarantee of no-compromise quality,  says the manufacturer. They can be rotated through 360 degrees and swung forward and back, so when coupled with the high manoeuvrability of the wheel loader itself, that makes for even more efficient work in very limited spaces.

The L 580 2plus2 LogHandler complies with Liebherr’s high quality standards when it comes to operational convenience and safety. For an unrestricted upward view the spacious, ergonomically designed cabin has an additional skylight in the roof and there are also protective grilles as standard equipment over the windscreen and skylight for the often rough treatment the LogHandler is expected to undergo.

New Otago mill a sight for ‘saw’ eyes

In a sign that the New Zealand wood processing industry is emerging from one of its toughest times since World War Two, work has started on building a brand new saw mill in the Otago town of Milton.

The high production mill is part of a multimillion-dollar expansion programme being undertaken by Southern Cross Forest Products Ltd, which owns mills and processing plants around Otago and at Thames in the North Island.

Construction has begun at a site not far from SCFP’s existing Millstream Lumber plant and plans are for the new mill to be commissioned by the middle of next year.  Together with Millstream, which will remain in production, it will supply timber to the company’s New Zealand Wood Moulding plant at Mosgiel, which is one of only two large scale SLM manufacturers in New Zealand.

The new mill represents a bright point in an otherwise gloomy period for wood processing in this country, which has seen more than 30 mills close in the past three years.