Logistics associated with (waste) wood

Waste wood is the term used for excess wood that results when trees are cut down in a forest or when wood is processed at a sawmill, for example. The bark is removed from so-called round timber at sawmills and the wood is incised. About 60 per cent of it is supplied to do-it-yourself markets or carpenters as planks or timber of particular lengths. The remaining 40 per cent involves wood shavings and sawdust – and these are precisely the products that we transport and use for commercial purposes at Rhenus Forest Logistics, e.g. transporting it to customers that produce paper or wood-based materials, or that generate energy. As a service provider, we make an important contribution here to ensure that the supply chain runs as smoothly as possible.

Our principal goal is to deliver quantities of raw materials on time – or ‘just in time’, in line with our customers’ specifications. Pellets are a good example of this: wood pellets made from waste wood have become increasingly popular as a fuel over the past several years. This means that the level of demand in autumn and winter increases dramatically. However, this is also the time when sawmills produce somewhat less. By drawing up plans for requirements with the customers at an early stage and clarifying the origin of the material, we can circumvent the discrepancy between supply and demand. But if there aren’t enough supplies available, we may need to use national distribution services, e.g. inland waterway shipping, which we utilise if the need arises. If there are excessive amounts of wood available, we seek to create a national balance. In principle, however, we make it our aim to deliver wood within a radius of no more than 200 km; ‘from the region – for the region’. After all, we focus on regional sawmills and forests – and handling them responsibly; this is all part of sustainable forestry.

We need to make a clear distinction here: it isn’t the wood itself that has become scarce, but the sawn timber. This is naturally partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to restrictions caused by short-time working and breakdowns in production. However, the plague of bark beetles in 2020 has affected us to a much greater degree. We’ve had several very dry summers, one after the other. The high temperatures and the low amounts of precipitation have already significantly weakened the trees. They’ve also created favourable conditions for bark beetles to reproduce billions of times over. This infestation has particularly affected fir and spruce trees, which are the types of trees that are most commonly processed in Germany. This has meant that trees have died and then fallen over at some stage.

We’re noticing at this time that the level of demand is slowly but surely drawing close to the level of actual supply. The economic cycle is recovering in the states; our new German government will also invest heavily in areas such as energy efficiency. At the same time, wood is becoming more and more popular because of its properties as a building material in the home. More modern ways of building, e.g. wood frame constructions, are in demand. We’re therefore optimistic about the market. However, it’s also clear that the bark beetle plague has done enormous damage to the timber resources in Germany. New flows of goods will open up – but we’ll have to evaluate them with our customers to determine which ones they’ll be. But one thing is clear: wood remains a fascinating material.

Rhenus Forest Logistics provides logistics services associated with wood as a raw material. These include commercial activities, logistics, storage and processing by-products from sawmills such as sawdust and wood chips as well as handling recycling, energy and industrial wood directly from forests. The logistics specialist therefore supplies many long-standing customers in the paper, wood-based materials, energy and soil production sectors.