Transporting Timber from the Developing a Strategy: A Discussion Document

The Timber Transport Group

Chairman: Frank MacCulloch CEng MICE November 2007

 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

Contents

THE ROLE OF THE HIGHLAND TIMBER TRANSPORT GROUP ...... 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... 1 LOCATION AND CATCHMENT PLAN ...... 2 INTRODUCTION ...... 3 THE CATCHMENT AREA ...... 3 BACKGROUND ...... 3 ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS ...... 4 TIMBER OUTPUT PREDICTIONS ...... 4 WHERE WILL THE TIMBER GO? ...... 6 HOW WILL IT GET THERE? ...... 6 THE PUBLIC ROAD NETWORK ...... 7 THE „IN FOREST‟ ROAD NETWORK ...... 8 THE RAIL NETWORK ...... 8 THE WAY FORWARD ...... 9

The role of the Highland Timber Transport Group The Highland Timber Transport Group (HTTG) is a voluntary partnership of public and private sector organisations with a common interest in resolving timber transport issues in the Highlands. The group acts to promote solutions to timber transport problems and it is with this aim that it has commissioned this report.

Timber output from forests can vary substantially from predictions for a variety of reasons. The information in this report is based on a summation of predictions from a number of sources. It has been prepared as a guide to transport strategy development and does not purport to be a definitive forecast of future production.

Acknowledgements The HTTG acknowledges funding assistance for strategy development from the Scottish Strategic Timber Transport Scheme, HITRANS, Forestry Commission () and The Highland Council.

The author wishes to thank Jolyon Amos of Fountains, Tim Cockerill of Forest Enterprise and Frank Roach of the Highland Rail Partnership for their assistance in providing background information.

Colin JT Mackenzie BSc BSc(Eng) CEng MICE FIHT Project Consultant to the Highland Timber Transport Group

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 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

Location and Catchment Plan

Fig 1 Location and Catchment Plan

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 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

Introduction During the 1960‟s-1980‟s extensive planting of conifer forests was carried out over a wide area of East Central and West . These plantations are now reaching maturity and it has long been recognized that there are major obstacles to be overcome for timber to be transported to market.

The purpose of this report is to summarise the key transport issues and to propose a strategy for dealing with them.

The Catchment Area The area for this timber transport strategy has been chosen to include all those forests which naturally fall within the “catchment” of the A897 to road. It includes some 17,500ha of public and private forests within a wide area including the catchments of the following rivers:

 The Helmsdale  The Naver  The Strathy  The Halladale  The , West of Westerdale

Background This area of East Central Sutherland and West Caithness is amongst the most sparsely populated and remote in the UK. The only transport links available for extracting timber are a fragile single track road network together with the Far North Railway Line, which currently has no timber freight service. With timber production from the area set to increase substantially from its present level of 30,000tonnes per annum (tpa) over the next three years there is an urgent need to develop a sustainable extraction strategy.

There is a history of controversy over the decision to plant conifer forests on the peatlands of Central Sutherland and Caithness but it is not the role of this report to engage in debate about the past. The key facts is that there are large forests maturing on or adjacent to peatlands and these peatlands are now recognized as being of national and international importance. The questions to be addressed now are:

 How can the existing timber resource be got to market  How can the remaining forest be best managed and restructured to maximize the environmental and economic benefits

Whilst this paper concentrates on the first of these points it has to be recognized that the development of an extraction strategy cannot be done in isolation. If the greatest benefit is to be achieved a holistic approach has to be adopted considering all facets of what is complex equation. The timber extraction strategy must overlap with the Peatlands Management Strategy 2005-2015 and it is useful to repeat the Strategic Objectives of that document here:

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 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

1. To promote and carry out land management that benefits nationally and internationally important areas of peatland, and associated habitats and species. 2. To promote and undertake sustainable woodland management, with an appropriate balance between woodlands and peatlands. 3. To encourage community and economic development that is compatible with safeguarding those features that make the peatlands important. 4. To promote greater awareness, understanding and enjoyment of the special wildlife, landscape, historical and cultural values of the peatlands.

A key driver in determining the felling timescale is the need for felling to clear peatland for restoration work. Considerable work on this has already been carried out on the RSPB owned estate at . Unfortunately much of the timber felled so far has been to waste.

There is an opportunity, through collaboration between forest owners and stakeholders, with support from the Forestry Authority to develop a proposal for the harvest and marketing of 50,000tpa starting in 2010 for 5 years. When this is added to existing and other proposed timber flows it becomes clear that extraction over the public road network Fig 2 Felling to Waste may well not be an option without inordinate public expenditure on road upgrading. This is the challenge that must be addressed.

Economic Considerations In considering solutions it is important to recognize the marginal, or even negative, economics of transporting timber to market from this area. Much of the crop in the early years will be low grade pine and prices are driven down by international competition. Costs fluctuate widely but with the difficulties of access and distance from the market, harvesting and road transport costs can be £20-£30 per tonne. With the market in North Scotland currently paying similar figures at the factory gate the forest owner is faced with the prospect of a modest profit if his timber is good quality and accessible or a clear loss in the reverse case. Indeed most of the peatland restoration clearance would be wholly uneconomic were it not for assistance by way of grant aid, as all afforested areas are in mid-rotation, comprised entirely of small roundwood.

Timber Output Predictions Predicting the harvesting profile of this vast area has always been rendered difficult by the lack of existing suitable timber transport infrastructure and the marginal profitability mentioned above. In these circumstances there is little incentive for forest owners to work out detailed forest plans into the future.

During 2007 the Highland Timber Transport Group embarked on a major programme to update output predictions across the Highlands, with a view to identifying areas of landlocked timber. The Flow Country catchment was one of the most important of these and with assistance of the public and private sectors it has now been possible to draw this information together.

The Strathy forests have been included in this catchment because of the clear desirability of devising an „in forest‟ solution for extraction towards Forsinard. The alternative is for timber from Strathy to have to go north down the fragile community road to reach the A836 and a long circuitous route east and then south via Thurso. The „in forest‟ solution would involve constructing a new 1.5km road across peatland near Loch Strathy which would clearly require detailed environmental assessment. 4

 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

The key contributing forests are:

Output in Owner Forest location Felling reason 2010 tpa Naver: Syre, Rosal, Reached maturity, Forest Enterprise 30,000 Rimsdale undergoing extraction : Some mature and , suffering windblow, Private Sector (various owners) 10,000 Borrobol, Kildonan, some reaching Suisgill maturity Peatland restoration, Private Sector (various owners, East of Forsinard, some reaching 50,000 mainly managed by Fountains) area maturity Private Sector (various owners, North West of Maturing post 2017 - mainly managed by Fountains) Forsinard, Strathy Dyke, Forsinain and Forest Enterprise Maturing post 2017 - Braehour Total 2010 output 90,000

From the data currently available this level of production is expected to be sustained until 2016 as shown on the following graph:

Beyond 2017 further forests will come into production with annual output leveling about 90,000tpa until 2021. Thereafter it is expected to double as private sector forests reach full maturity to reaching a maximum of 200,000tpa between 2021 and 2025. To put this latter figure into perspective it is 10 times the maximum volume of timber extracted in recent years from Naver Forest, an operation which itself identified the inadequacy of the public road and rail networks.

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 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

Where will the timber go?

Given the volatility of the timber market it is unrealistic to be specific about the future destination for the Flow Country timber, particularly in the longer term. However some of the issues can be set out and considered.

At present the obvious destination for the low grade timber in the north is the Norbord plant at Dalcross, near . This may change in 2009 with the opening of the Balcas Combined Heat and Power and wood pellet plant at Invergordon which will provide an alternative, and closer, destination.

Biomass district heating schemes are a growth market and the Wick Heating scheme is projected to need 30,000t per annum. Given that the Wick plant is sited within the town road haulage is essential and the closer the supply point the better the economics. It is therefore likely that the Wick timber will be sourced from forests close to the town.

Further District Heating and CHP proposals have been mooted for Caithness but none have reached an advanced stage. There are large FCS and private sector forests closer to Thurso and than the Flow Country Catchment and which could feed any plant in West Caithness. The construction of a large CHP plant in the Flow country, say around Forsinard or Altnabreac, might make strategic sense but would suffer efficiency losses without the ability to use the low grade waste heat for district heating or other processing activity. Without a firm proposal on the table this option has to be discounted in the current consideration.

As the flow Country forests mature an increasing proportion of the future harvest will be higher value saw logs. At present this movement would be South to the nearest major sawmills at

Dingwall, Boat of Garten, Nairn and Mosstodloch. Depending Fig 3 Main destination locations on the market and the economics of transport it is possible that the export of saw logs by sea from and Wick may increase in the future.

Taking all these factors into account it is reasonable to conclude that the main direction of travel for Flow Country timber for the foreseeable future will continue to be South towards the inner .

How will it get there?

There are two basic options for taking the timber to market: Road or Rail.

Taking 100,000tpa of timber out by road equates to 4,000 laden 44tonne trucks or 8000 truck movements per annum. Putting it another way, it equates to 32 truck movements per day travelling a distance of 100miles to/from market. This has major implications not just for the weak public road and bridge structures but for the communities through which the roads pass.

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 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

By comparison a 500tonne timber train working 5 days a week will shift 2,500t per week, requiring 40 weeks to shift the total. However if the 200,000tpa predicted post 2021 is realized, even this single daily train would be inadequate, again demonstrating the scale of the challenge.

The Public Road network

The main road serving the area is the 40 mile A897 which connects the A9 Trunk Road at Helmsdale with the A836 North Coast Road at Melvich.

The A897 is a fragile single track road unsuited in its present condition to taking the sort of volumes envisaged. Traditionally The Highland Council have discouraged its use for timber extraction but have recently relented to permit limited volumes of 15-20,000tpa to be extracted, in anticipation of gaining funding assistance from the Scottish Strategic Timber Transport Fund. This relaxation only applies to the first 20 miles between Helmsdale and .

The length of passing places becomes a major issue on single track roads as soon as the number of trucks increases. As long as passing movements are restricted to the occasional truck and car existing passing places can provide an acceptable level of service. However when the number of trucks on a road is such that they have to pass each other most, if not all passing places will have to be lengthened at substantial cost.

Between Kinbrace and Forsinard the A897 crosses weak peatland and would require significant expenditure to be spent on upgrading. Similariy, between Forsinard and Melvich the road suffers from a poor alignment and lack of passing places as it passes through the crofting communities of Strath Halladale.

The B871 road joins the A897 at Kinbrace taking timber from the forests of Strathnaver. Although extremely fragile this narrow road has been permitted for timber traffic under a Fig 4 A897 near Kinbrace unique cost sharing partnership between Forest Enterprise and the Council.

The A9 Trunk road runs close to the East boundary of the catchment. Although permitted for timber transport this route suffers from the long haul south, intervening gradients at and Berriedale and lack of opportunities for overtaking.

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 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

The ‘In Forest’ Road Network

Given the limitations of the public road network it is inevitable that the private „in forest‟ road network will have a strategic significance. Although gravel surfaced and privately owned these roads are capable of carrying laden 44tonne trucks and, when linked together, can provide a convenient alternative to the public road.

In the Flow Country there appears to be an excellent strategic opportunity to link a number of private and public forests from Strathy all the way to Altnabreac and beyond to Westerdale, some 50km away. To achieve this would require goodwill and cooperation from the private owners but the benefits are substantial. Amongst other things this would enable the use of specialist off road haulage vehicles with savings in fuel and logistics.

Given the high environmantal designation of the area works of this nature would also require the cooperation of the statutory bodies.

Fig 5 Altnabreac: forest road

The Rail Network The from Inverness to Wick leaves the coast at Helmsdale and runs inland up the Strath of Kildonan, parallel to the A897. At Forsinard it branches east towards Georgemas Junction, where it splits for Thurso and Wick.

There are unmanned stations at Kildonan, Kinbrace, Forsinard and Altnabreac as well as Helmsdale and Georgemas.

In 2001 a major railside loading bank was constructed beside the line at Kinbrace to enable extraction to proceed from FCS holdings in Strathnaver. Over the next three years some 50,000t were consigned from Kinbrace to Inverness by English, Welsh, Scottish Railways (EWS) for onward transhipment by road to Norbord at Dalcross. Although this had to be suspended in 2005 on economic grounds a number of logistical lessons were learned:

 Rail works best with regular large volumes (trains carrying 500t)  The limited time available for railside loading of a full train created operational difficulties  The need to transship from Inverness to Dalcross added significantly to costs  The logistics of the whole operation were costly and complex without the availability of dedicated rolling stock  Dedicated sidings at either end would have greatly helped the operation and economics.

If a satisfactory rail service is to be devised for timber on the Far North Line major investment in sidings and rolling stock is considered essential. It is highly desirable to invest strategically in infrastructure to keep running costs down, rather than to have to rely on revenue subsidies in the future. A major improvement to the existing siding at Altnabreac has immediate attractions, being itself on the „in forest‟ route mentioned above. Other options might be available at Forsinard or Georgemas.

At the destination end it is fortunate that both Balcas and Norbord have the capability of being rail connected, both sites having previously had sidings although now disconnected. In addition some of the major sawmills 8

 Transporting Timber from the Flow Country

are not too far distant from rail connections, enabling transshipment to be considered if rail does prove viable. For example the BSW mill at Boat of Garten is near the Strathspey railway, John Gordon of Nairn close to the Aberdeen-Inverness line and James Jones at Mosstodloch a few miles from existing sidings at Elgin.

Fig 6 Kinbrace Railside Loading

The Way Forward

Timber output from the Flow Country forests is expected to rise rapidly by 2010 and be sustained at a level of 90-100,000tpa for the following decade. Longer term the yield may reach as much as 200,000tpa in 15 years. This has major implications for the local transport network, economy and environment and an appropriate strategy must be agreed as a matter of urgency. The following are proposed for discussion and to be taken forward.

1. The preferred solution is to use rail, with an eventual daily service between Altnabreac and Invergordon/Inverness capable of displacing 30+ truck movements a day from fragile public roads. The provision of a secure rail service could also make railside loading at intermediate locations such as Kinbrace a more viable option.

2. Linking the 50km of existing forest roads from Strathy to Westerdale would divert heavy traffic off the weak A897 and feed timber to rail at Altnabreac. Minor improvements to the public road between Westerdale and the A9 would enable timber to be fed to the Caithness market or ports at Scabster and Wick.

3. Further south, in the Strath of Kildonan, the A897 would have to be improved to a modest standard capable of taking a restricted volume of timber traffic to railside loading at Kinbrace or direct to market as appropriate.

Delivering these objectives will require a high level of commitment from a wide range of public and private sector partners if the necessary planning, funding and infrastructure are to be put in place Fig 7 Unloading timber from rail in the timescale required.

Drawing up this document is a first step. Agreeing the strategy and identifying partners to take it forward are the next.

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