Environmentally friendly and fuel-economic transport solution
Well-known problems in terrain with bad carrying capacity include too deep driving tracks and accessing the logging sites. The 10-wheeled solution reduces driving tracks, which can be seen in other places too when the soil is not frozen.The 10-wheeled concept significantly reduces the surface pressure caused by the forwarder. Studies showed that, for example, the surface pressure of 10-wheeled version of PONSSE Wisent forwarder with a 12 tonne load carrying capacity remained at 24 to 26 kPa (with a 10t load). This pressure is the same, if not even lower, than the surface pressure of a human's footprint! Surface pressure is one of the keys to minimising soil damage, and this concept makes it possible to reduce that pressure without sacrificing productivity.
At the beginning of studies there were also some discordant notes, which suspected that the optional equipment will increase the weight of the machine too much. The results of the study, however, denied these statements. If all of the wood harvested from a certain sized stand with poor carrying capacity is transported with a normal forwarder in 15 loads (7 tonnes each = about 50 kPa), the surface pressure load per driving track equals the number of trips multiplied by the size of the load, i.e. 15x50 kPa=750 kPa. If the same transportation task was made using a 10-wheeled forwarder, its better carrying capacity would allow us to increase the load up to approximately 10 tonnes, which equals, for a 10-wheeled machine, approximately 25 kPa. Furthermore, all of the wood could be fit into 10 loads, and the total surface pressure load would add up to 250 kPa. The difference is huge, and it efficiently prevents unnecessary soil compaction and the forming of tracks.
The smaller number of trips also reduces fuel consumption per harvested cubic metre, and therefore leads to a smaller ecologic footprint as the CO emissions diminish. The more a forwarder is driven in the forest, the more damage it imposes on the woods that remain standing. But now these damages can also be minimised.
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