Combination harvester/forwarder has potential cost advantages for smaller operators and commercial thinning

Last fall's METKO 96 bi-annual Finnish forest equipment machine show unveiled a unique concept in integrated log harvesting and forwarding. Held about 200 km north of Helsinki in early September, METKO '96 featured a combination forwarder/harvester based on a Pika eight-wheel 728T forwarder. This particular model was equipped with a Pika combi head that can be used both as a harvester head and a grapple to load wood on the forwarder bunk.

This double-duty machine is a new concept that is gaining a lot of interest in both Sweden and Finland, with a number of companies working on prototypes. The motivation behind the concept is to reduce the expense of buying and transporting both a …