How many logs are in a whack?

mapleveneer · September 25, 2006, 04:43:42 AM

Work has brought me to Christchurch, NZ this week. Being a boater since I was a kid, I can't resist going down to a port to see what is going on. So I head out to Lyttleton, which is the port for Christchurch, and find a Turkish vessel loading what appear to me to be Douglas Fir logs. Quite a whack of logs! I think we should hold a contest on the forum to see who can guess how many board feet there are in a vessel load.

Two loaders and four trucks shuttling logs.

Each truck is emptied in two lifts.

When you consider that the logs go all the way to the bottom of the holds and will likely go to the top of the stakes on the sides of the vessel, that's a lot of logs.

Mr Mom · September 25, 2006, 04:47:23 AM

I will take a load.

Thanks Alot Mr Mom

SwampDonkey · September 25, 2006, 05:33:04 AM

Quote from: mapleveneer on September 25, 2006, 04:43:42 AM
Quite a whack of logs! I think we should hold a contest on the forum to see who can guess how many board feet there are in a vessel load.

Probably a bit more than a 'puckle' ;D

sawguy21 · September 25, 2006, 11:05:24 AM

I am wondering, if that is d-fir, why they harvest such small ones.

Tom · September 25, 2006, 02:07:55 PM

At the risk of reinforcing my reputation as a curmudgeon, I won't answer that with, "because they've already exported all of the big ones", like I normally would. :D

beenthere · September 25, 2006, 02:31:06 PM

Unless those are toy trucks, or miniatures, in the last pic, there are some pretty good size logs shown - from what I see.

Likely from plantations, so no lunkers available or of interest. That is pure guessing on my part. The NZ members probably have those answers when they sign on.

sprucebunny · September 25, 2006, 05:55:42 PM

That's amazing

Thanks for the pictures.

I always go check out the waterfront, too ;D

I'm guessing 4.8 million board feet ...just for a wild guess ???

Ianab · September 25, 2006, 06:10:00 PM

Yup, whatever they are they will be plantation grown.
The logs will be graded at the landing and may be sent to 3 or 4 different destinations. Local sawmills, pulp plant, post manufacturing or export as sawlogs or pulp logs.

There is a lot of science goes into when to harvest, do you let the trees grow bigger?. But their growth slows down and they have to be thinned further apart. Or do you harvest and replant and bank the cash from the early crop? From a purely financial point of view you are better off earning $1m after 25 years and then anouther $1m at 50 years (2nd crop) rather than just holding out for the $2m after 50 years.

As to how many logs in a load?
Well the Jody F Millenium was carrying ~20,000 tons of logs when she ran aground leaving Gisborne harbour.

Now that was a bit of an embarassment, stuck solid a couple of hundred yards off the city's main beach and leaking fuel oil :

They had to unload the ship to get it free, took weeks .

Cheers

Ian