Cable logging opportunities for firewood in Calabrian forests

Cable cranes are among the most important means of yarding and transporting timber and they are being increasingly used in the mountainous regions of Europe. However, their in Southern Italy remains limited, particularly in forests used for firewood production, where they are hardly employed. Forests in Southern Italy are mainly located in steeply sloping mountainous areas where ground-based wood extraction is still the most common harvesting technique employed. The productivity of different cable cranes was assessed to establish if these machines could be recommended for efficient harvesting in the forest conditions in Southern Italy. The cable cranes tested were the Greifenberg TG 700, the Koller K300 and the Greifenberg VSG 2000; the tests were carried out in areas of Calabria (Southern Italy) where site features and forest management parameters differed. A time and motion study showed that the productivity of cable cranes tested was satisfactory although there are a number of organisational aspects that could be improved in order to fully exploit their potential.