Wood on the Move: From Forest to Finished Product

No two weeks are the same in the timber business – the price of wood and the weather determine the flow of goods. Transport customers therefore expect one thing above all else: flexibility. Andre Fattome, Wood Segment Manager at the Rail Cargo Group (RCG), and Richard Wagendorfer, sales specialist with 35 years' experience at RCG, give an insight into the challenges of their daily work.

What makes working with timber so special?

Richard: Timber transport is generally difficult to plan. In other industries, shipping and receiving points and routes are more stable. It's completely different with timber: the starting points are constantly changing, depending on natural events, timber prices and specific conditions in different countries. This unpredictability is the challenge and requires flexible partners. Our customers are sawmills, paper mills, fibre mills, board manufacturers and thermal recyclers. Each of these customers has different transport requirements, which makes our work varied and exciting.

What is special about wood as a raw material?

Richard: The great thing about wood is that you can really make use of everything, right down to the bark. Even if it is only used for energy or fertiliser, there is not a single gram left over. That's what makes wood such an interesting raw material.

When most people think of wood products, they probably think of parquet flooring, cabinets or furniture. As an end user, where else do I come into contact with wood products transported by RCG?

Andre: In almost every aspect of life. In fact, the range of products made from wood or containing wood by-products is much wider. These include fruit crates for the Sicilian market, fibres for the manufacture of hygiene products, clothing and medical products.

What is RCG's role in the industry – in Austria and throughout Europe?

Andre: We are the leading wood transporter in the whole of Central Europe – especially in the area of wood chips. Every year we transport between 700 and 900 wood chip trains with special equipment. In Austria, we see ourselves as the backbone of the single wagonload traffic. A nationwide service for loading raw wood is necessary to ensure that these transports can be carried out in a sustainable and climate-neutral manner by rail. That is why the existence of single wagonload traffic is so important.

Where does the wood come from and how is it transported in Europe?

Andre: When it comes to wood, you always have to distinguish between the raw material wood, i.e. logs, and the finished products made from it, such as sawn timber or by-products like wood chips. Logs are either imported or domestically sourced, depending on the price and where the wood is available. We currently source a lot of our timber from Austria, but we also import from Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Switzerland. The sawn timber from the sawmill is then exported all over the world, for example via the Port of Koper or the northern German ports. Sawmill by-products such as wood chips and bark are also processed and used.

Does this mean that RCG, as a logistics company, often comes into contact with the same "tree"?

Andre: Yes, we often transport the same raw material several times. For example, we transport the raw timber to the sawmill. This is then processed into lumber or boards, which are then further processed. We also transport finished products, such as parquet flooring or construction timber, from one processing plant to another, where they are further refined. In many cases, we link several supply chains together.

Forests and climate change are known to be sensitive issues, with extreme weather events being the keyword. How does climate change affect timber transportation?

Andre: Climate change brings with it an increase in extreme weather events, which of course affects the industry. Wind and snags caused by natural events such as storms need to be moved relatively quickly. This also requires a high degree of flexibility in logistics. This volatility is likely to increase in the future, which means that logistics companies will need to be even faster and more flexible in the long term.

At a glance

• Organisation of Europe-wide end-to-end deliveries
• Warehouse and distribution organisation
• Services: Shipment tracking with GPS, consignment note creation, transshipment and much more
• 7.1 million tonnes of total volume per year, including
  • 3.8 million tonnes of logs
  • 1.9 million tonnes of processed wood products
  • 1.2 million tonnes of wood chips

Are you interested in a timber transport? You can contact us directly here.