In the Southern U.S., timber is transported from harvest sites to mills by many small trucking companies. Few studies have examined the structure and challenges facing these businesses. This study involved interviews with 18 log truck owners operating in the state of Georgia, USA. Participants operated in all forested regions of Georgia and included wood dealers, contract haulers, logging businesses, logging and trucking businesses, and large, diversified trucking businesses. Fleet sizes ranged from zero trucks (recently ceased hauling) to more than 50 log trucks. Log trucks were driven an average of 127,324 km year⁻¹ and delivered an average of 17,410 t year⁻¹. Participants averaged 48% loaded km. Analysis suggests the current combination of average payload, percent-loaded km, and published haul rates make it difficult for log trucking companies to be profitable. The most important challenges faced by log truck owners were a shortage of qualified drivers and rising truck insurance premiums, which were identified as the greatest challenge by 44% and 39% of participants, respectively. Increasing percent-loaded km, reducing turn times at mills and harvest sites, providing driver training, and adopting technologies, such as global positioning system tracking and onboard cameras, could improve transportation efficiency and safety.

Surveys of logging business owners and managers have been conducted at five-year intervals in Georgia since 1987 and in South Carolina beginning in 2012. The surveys have documented trends in logging businesses and how they respond to changing timber markets. The response rate to the 2017 survey was approximately 20 percent in both states. Eighty-six percent of Georgia and 78 percent of South Carolina logging businesses used feller-buncher/grapple-skidder systems, and 11 percent and 20 percent of businesses owned chippers in Georgia and South Carolina, respectively. Average weekly production in Georgia increased by 95 percent in 1987–2017, but increases in recent years have been modest. The long-term trend in both states is toward fewer, larger businesses. The percentage of annual timber volume harvested by high production logging businesses (> 2,500 tons wk⁻¹) increased from 32 percent in Georgia in 1997 to 63 percent in Georgia and 52 percent in South Carolina in 2017, while the number of logging businesses declined by 34 percent in Georgia and 50 percent in South Carolina. Median owner/manager age was 53 and 57 years in Georgia and South Carolina, respectively, and approximately one-third of respondents were over 60 years of age. Mill quota and trucking/insurance were the most commonly cited challenges facing logging business owners in 2017.

Timber is harvested in the United States by thousands of independent logging businesses. Fully mechanized, whole-tree harvesting systems are the most common and most productive systems in most states, although chainsaw systems persist in mountainous terrain and cut-to-length systems are common in the Lake States. Southern loggers are most productive, with many logging businesses producing more than 70,000 tons yr^-1 while loggers in other regions average <30,000 tons yr^-1. Both the number of logging workers and logging businesses declined by 2% yr^-1 in 1990–2016. However, despite consolidation, most studies report adequate or excess logging capacity. The logging sector faces a number of challenges, such as the need to recruit new business owners when the current generation retires, declining markets in some areas, and reduced working days per year. However, the logging sector has proven resilient and innovative over the years with significant improvements in productivity and environmental performance.

The aim of the study was to provide a comprehensive overview of global long-distance road transportation of industrial roundwood. The study focused on the maximum gross vehicle weight (GVW) limits allowed with different timber truck configurations, typical payloads in timber trucking, the road transportation share of the total industrial roundwood long-distance transportation volume, and the average long-distance transportation distances and costs of industrial roundwood. The study was carried out as a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was sent to timber transportation logistics experts and research scientists in the 30 countries with the largest industrial roundwood removals in Europe, as well as selected major forestry countries in the world (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Türkiye, the United States of America and Uruguay) in February 2022, and closed in May 2022. A total of 31 countries took part in the survey. The survey illustrated that timber trucking was the main long-distance transportation method of industrial roundwood in almost every country surveyed. Road transportation averaged 89% of the total industrial roundwood long-distance transportation volume. Timber truck configurations of 4 to 9 axles with GVW limits of around 30 tonnes to over 70 tonnes were most commonly used. The results indicated that higher GVW limits allowed significantly higher payloads in timber trucking, with the lowest payloads at less than 25 tonnes, and the highest payloads more than 45 tonnes. The average road transportation distance with industrial roundwood was 128 km, and the average long-distance transportation cost in timber trucking was €11.1 per tonne of timber transported. In the entire survey material, there was a direct relationship between transportation distance and transportation costs and an inverse relationship between maximum GVW limits and transportation costs. Consequently, in order to reduce transportation costs, it is essential to maximise payloads (within legal limits) and minimise haul distances. Several measures to increase cost- and energy-efficiency, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in road transportation logistics, are discussed in the paper. On the basis of the survey, it is recommended that up-to-date statistical data and novel research studies on the long-distance transportation of industrial roundwood be conducted in some countries in the future.

Timber transportation is an essential and often unprofitable segment of the wood supply chain. This study evaluated the profitability of individual timber deliveries for log truck owners in the US South. Origin and destination data were collected from 909 deliveries from 257 harvest sites. Travel time and distance were estimated using ArcGIS and GPS tracking. Monte Carlo Simulation was used to calculate 1000 unique combinations of payload, harvest site turn-time, mill turn-time, and percent-loaded km, yielding a dataset of 909,000 deliveries. Hauling costs and revenues for each delivery were estimated using published estimates. Driver wages were estimated in two ways: an hourly wage of $30.60 (USD) and 30% of the gross revenue from the load being delivered. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between six dependent variables and profitability. Only 14% of deliveries were profitable when the driver was paid an hourly wage versus 42% when the driver was paid 30% of gross revenue. Deliveries with one-way haul distances between 49 and 113 km (31–70 mi) were least likely to be profitable. Many deliveries could be profitable if logging businesses and mills reduced turn-times to under 20 min at mills and 30 min at harvest sites.

Approximately one-third of Wisconsin loggers left the industry in recent years, prompting concerns about logging capacity. In addition, research suggests seasonal barriers to timber harvesting in the state, which may result in seasonally low utilization of remaining capacity. A 1-year study of logging capacity utilization was conducted in Wisconsin beginning in late September 2014. Thirty participating loggers provided weekly reports describing number of loads delivered; hours worked; and number of loads lost due to weather, breakdowns, and other reasons. Logging capacity utilization was calculated by dividing loads delivered by the sum of loads delivered and loads lost. Logging efficiency was calculated using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). For the SFA model, the output variable was delivered loads per week, input variables were man-hours worked and capital invested per week, and six environmental variables were included in the model. Logging capacity utilization averaged 72% when spring break-up shutdowns were excluded and 64% when these weeks were included. The primary causes of lost production were weather (11.5% reduction in delivered loads) and equipment breakdowns (3.8%). Logging efficiency averaged 64%, as measured by stochastic frontier analysis, with mechanized crews significantly more efficient than chainsaw crews (p < 0.01). Productivity was highest during winter (p < 0.01) and efficiency was higher during winter than summer (p < 0.01). This study suggests that adequate logging capacity exists to support current forest industry demand. Adequate capacity also exists to increase production outside the winter months; however, weather-related downtime and restrictions on timber sales make this difficult.