I would imagine organising a forestry expo during the Euro’s was probably not an easy job. Edinburgh airport was teaming with kilted Scotsmen, along with the distinct wail of bagpipes, as the tartan army made its way over to Cologne for Scotland’s second football match against Switzerland.
Although the airport was choc-o-block, staff coped admirably. The majority of travellers were in a jubilant mood even if it was taking almost two hours to get through security. Once through the rest of the journey ran reasonably smoothly. After an overnight stay close to Frankfurt airport I met up with colleagues that flew over that morning.
The show ground was about one and a half hours drive from the airport and as we arrived just after lunchtime there was no traffic delays, so we got parked easily. It was a drizzly sort of day with warm, clammy and humid weather. The excitement started to build as we neared the show entrance, and the unmistakable chunking of the large chippers could be heard munching their way through vast quantities of timber.
This show is in a forest setting and many of the exhibitors were situated either side of a forest road which wound its way around a 5km track. Germany has been experiencing one of the wettest years in history, May alone had 48mm more rainfall than normal, making it the third wettest since 1901. Despite all the rain, the field for parking was relatively clean with no major rutting to be seen. Parking was arranged so that access was at the top of the hill and the exit to the main road at the bottom. There was a middle lane to travel with parking to the left and right, bottom to top. Everyone left enough room to pull out from the car in front, so that the direction of travel was always downhill.
The path leading from the parking area to the Expo was three or four inches deep with woodchips which was just as well as I had only brought trainers with me.
Two entrances and two parking areas with marshals directing traffic from the main road prevented any hold ups. Once through, the atmosphere was really buzzing with machinery noises, loudspeakers blaring away and the chinking of Steins and laughter from the many beer gardens near the entrance. The main area is not exactly a working show as such, there were excursions to nearby forests where a selection of demos were being held, but seeing the equipment standing proudly in its natural habitat is enough for me.
Demonstrations took place in the main area as well. Westtech Woodcracker had a fantastic display of equipment and their live demonstrations continued throughout each day. Pfanzelt Maschinenbau demonstrated the versatility of their PM Trac forestry tractor and the mini-Moritz tractor, which is best described as a forestry Swiss Army Knife. This clever little tracked machine is such a versatile tool with so many attachments that it make it an invaluable tool for commercial forestry and private estates.
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That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
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Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
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It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
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Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
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Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.
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Timber trailers and timber cranes were in use throughout the show. PALFINGER Epsilon had their usual large working area where visitors could try their cranes and controls.
Stihl Timber sports had a huge display area and a stage where visitors could participate and get hands on (and aching shoulders) cutting logs with crosscut saws to a cheering audience. The professionals were holding axe, chainsaws, hot saws and crosscut saw demonstrations throughout each day.
I was at the 18. KWF Tagung for two and a half days and still didn’t manage to see everything, there was in excess of five hundred exhibitors covering every aspect of forestry. Equipment with the latest technology for road building/maintaining, fencing, planting, weed suppression, fire control, thinning, final harvesting, wood transport, equipment transport, wood processing, firewood, tree surgery, chipping- you name it, and they had equipment to make the job easier. There was even equipment that you didn’t know existed, but once you had seen, it you knew you needed it lol.
Of all the shows I had ever visited this one is my absolute favourite. The lay out, fantastic atmosphere and amenities are second to none. The toilets throughout the show, although temporary, were proper flush toilets where you didn’t have to hold your nose while using them and were cleaned and emptied regularly. Whenever wet or muddy areas appeared a large loader with woodchip appeared and immediately remedied the problem.
An event like this has been much needed for our German forestry colleagues. Speaking to forestry contractors and equipment manufacturers/suppliers, the last seven months has been a pretty turbulent time for them. Germany has seen much higher rainfall than usual since the back end of last year, and this has prevented many people from working.
Forestry accounts for around one third of the land mass in Germany so it is a large industry that employs 1.3 million people (population is eighty-four million so in excess of 1.5%) and accounts for about €170 billion. Droughts from previous years have weakened around 80% of the spruce trees in Germany and left them vulnerable to beetle attack. Hard frosts used to keep the beetle damage under control, but the damp and warmer weather has allowed the beetle to thrive so many of the trees are now dead. It is sad to see so many dead mature spruce trees in the forest. What is good though is to see the amount of good straight timber that is up and coming from the hardwood forests that Germany has planted. Beach is one of the preferred species, although much slower growing it can withstand climate change and beetle attacks better.
The 18. KWF Tagung was a great event and helped to raise peoples spirits. A break away from the stress of every day life can offer a bit of clarity. Everyone in our group from the UK were of the same opinion. Harold Taylor thought it was a well organised show that ran like clockwork from start to finish. George Dunlop and his son Callum were amazed at the selection of equipment on display. When I asked George what the highlight of the trip was, I didn’t quite get the answer I thought. “The show was brilliant, but the best moment for me was when Harold took a wrong turn onto the motorway, forgot what side of the road we were driving on and shot back up the slip road the wrong way. The oncoming German motorists scattered left and right to avoid a collision and I still laugh now when I recollect their look of sheer terror at the oncoming kamikaze Ford Focus driver.”
Jos Dodd has been to other forestry events in Germany and Sweden but had never seen anything like the scale of the18. KWF Tagung. Michael Johnstone and his son loved everything about it and Michael managed to catch up with people he hadn’t seen in years.
From my point of view, the 18. KWF Tagung couldn’t have organised it better, no traffic delays, no queuing to get in and a great mix of equipment throughout. Everything was mixed up together, no dedicated sections.
Stallholders kept us fed and watered, the catering facilities looked good and not overpriced, Draught beer was available throughout the show and being able to get close to equipment without the health and safety police intervening made all the difference. Forestry workers are responsible adults who work in a high risk occupation and it’s great to see that the KWF organisers can rely on visitors good old common sense to prevent accidents.
Maybe other exhibition organisers should visit events like this and learn how to organise and host a great show.
www.kwf-tagung.net
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