Forwarder
Vehicle used in forestry
A forwarder is a forestry vehicle that carries big felled logs cut by a harvester from the stump to a roadside landing for later acquisition. Forwarders can use rubber tires or tracks. Unlike a skidder, a forwarder carries logs clear of the ground, which can reduce soil impacts but tends to limit the size of the logs it can move. They are typically employed together with harvesters in cut-to-length logging operations. It originated in Scandinavia.
01Load capacity
Forwarders are commonly categorized by their load carrying capabilities. Other classifications include whether they are wheeled or tracked and the axle arrangement. The smallest are trailers designed for towing behind all-terrain vehicles which can carry a load between 1 and 3 tonnes. Agricultural self-loading trailers designed to be towed by farm tractors can handle load weights up to around 12 to 15 tonnes. Light weight purpose-built machines utilised in commercial logging and early thinning operations can handle payloads of up to 8 tonnes. Medium-sized forwarders used in clearfells and later thinnings carry between 12 and 16 tonnes. The largest class specialized for clearfells handles up to 25 tonnes. Forwarders also carry their load at least 2 feet above the ground.
02Manufacturers
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Forwarder”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Forwarder.jpg by BenFrantzDale, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Forestry Forwarder Ösa 250 2.jpg by Richard Bartz, Munich aka Makro Freak, CC BY-SA 2.5
- Valmet 840.2 Forwarder der Bürgergemeinde Ermatingen.jpg by JoachimKohler-HB, CC BY-SA 4.0
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