BSW Group strengthens 2026 position with major investments across fleet
BSW Group, the UK’s largest integrated forestry and timber business, and a member of Binderholz, has made significant investments across 2025 to modernise fleets and strengthen logistics. These strategic developments ensure the Group enters 2026 in a strong position, reinforcing its market-leading role in the UK’s forestry and timber supply chain.
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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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Tilhill Harvesting invests in UK’s most advanced fleet
Across 2025, Tilhill Harvesting continued to invest heavily in modernising and expanding the UK’s largest and most advanced harvesting fleet.
The business now runs 35 harvesters and 33 forwarders, including the latest John Deere 1270G and H models, Tigercat tracked harvesters and forwarders from Ponsse, Komatsu and John Deere. These machines are matched to terrain and timber type, enabling high-productivity operations across rugged upland sites, mature conifer stands and large-scale lowland clearfells.
All equipment is maintained on a rolling five-year renewal cycle, guaranteeing modern technology, lower emissions and enhanced operator safety. New features such as extended 1,000-hour service intervals, improved ergonomics and enhanced hydraulic efficiency are already contributing to productivity gains.
Tilhill is also expanding its innovation pipeline by trialling mechanised planting systems, integrating nursery, forest management and harvesting expertise to improve planting speed and consistency.
BSW Timber invests £5m in sawmill fleet
BSW Timber introduced a raft of new machinery across its sawmills in 2025. Dalbeattie and Fort William each received new all-terrain forklifts; in addition to a Volvo L150H wheel loader at Dalbeattie and two 16 tonne Kalmar Forklifts at Fort William. Fort William was also one of the UK’s first recipients of the new Volvo L150K.
BSW Timber has plans to continue growing its fleet across 2026, with 22 new vehicles secured for the first 6 months of this year for the Carlisle, Fort William and Dalbeattie locations. This new fleet will include forklifts, material handlers, large wheel loaders and side loaders. Coming to a total of over £5m, this investment ensures that BSW Timber can continue to operate smoothly, safely and competitively to produce unique timber products for a variety of uses.
Maelor Forest Nurseries pioneers cold-storage and mechanised delivery service
In an industry first, Maelor Forest Nurseries, launched a pioneering nationwide tree delivery system that combines cold-chain vehicles, specialist flatbeds, and truck mounted Moffett Mounty forklifts to improve sapling establishment. While Maelor has long provided state-of-the-art growing conditions, temperature fluctuations during transport can harm roots, triggering metabolic changes that reduce establishment success.
The new cold storage and mechanised delivery system remedies this by keeping trees at their ideal storage temperature, this preserves the root to support effective establishment, reduces respiration which preserves carbohydrate reserves, and prevents dehydration and disease. This ensures the trees arrive in peak condition,
ready for successful establishment, even during unpredictable weather windows. Flatbeds allow secure, space-optimised loads to reach remote or sloped sites, while Moffett Mounty’s enable mechanised, safe and quick unloading without manual handling.
Now standard for all Maelor customers, the service delivers consistent quality, reduces operational risk, and improves safety for drivers and planting teams.
ready for successful establishment, even during unpredictable weather windows. Flatbeds allow secure, space-optimised loads to reach remote or sloped sites, while Moffett Mounty’s enable mechanised, safe and quick unloading without manual handling.
Now standard for all Maelor customers, the service delivers consistent quality, reduces operational risk, and improves safety for drivers and planting teams.
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Written by loggers for loggers and dedicated solely to the equipment used in forestry operations.