NZ-made Harvestlines take off in Chile

ROTORUA-MADE HARVESTLINE YARDERS HAVE SUDDENLY BECOME popular on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in Chile.

Latin Equipment, the dealer for EMS, has won contracts to supply four Harvestlines to contractors operating in Chilean forests, where they will go to work in Radiata plantations on hilly terrain.

The machines have been purchased by four individual contractors and follow the success of the company’s TractionLine winch-assist systems in Chile over the past couple of years.

“TractionLine has gone very well for us in Chile – we’ve sold ten now – and our dealer over there told us there was a good opportunity to sell Harvestlines, too,” says Dean O’Connor.

“The rolling terrain in Chile where a lot of plantation forest have been established is similar to what we have in New Zealand and the Harvestline is suited to use in blocks with limited access, where smaller and lighter equipment is favoured.

“They need machines that are easier to move and have the ability to set up quick line shifts.”

Chilean forestry contractors have tended to purchase lightweight yarders from Europe in the past, but the excavator-based Harvestline came into the picture due to the increasing use of winch-assist machines that are also built onto tracked excavators.

When EMS shipped some of its HawkEye motorised grapple carriages to Chile last year, the opportunity for these to be used in conjunction with a Harvestline further raised the interest levels.

EMS hosted a group of Chilean contractors who visited New Zealand with Latin Equipment last year, where they got to see Harvestlines working in the Bay of Plenty and Otago and the four orders quickly followed. Two are going to work in the Concepción area, near where the big earthquake struck in 2010, and the other two will head to forests further south.

All four machines are built on identical Doosan 340 bases, to suit the weight restrictions in the forests where they will be working.

They feature the two-drum fully interlocking system, along with a strawline drum, and they have a main drum rope capacity of 500 metres. Each will be supplied with a HawkEye grapple carriage fitted with a remote camera that displays on a screen inside the purpose-built EMS cab. A light guarding package has also been fitted.

The first Chilean Harvestline is due to arrive in Chile and a second is expected to be shipped out this month. The remaining two will be delivered by the end of the year. One of the Harvestlines will be on display at the huge Expo Corma forestry show in Chile in November.

Dean says the appearance of the Harvestline at the Expo is expected to provide an additional boost in interest among contractors throughout South America, not just in Chile.

Meanwhile, two more Harvestlines are also being built by EMS, but for New Zealand customers, both in the North Island. One is based on a Cat 336D2, whilst the other is going onto a Doosan 380. They are also two-drum interlocked models and will be supplied with HawkEye grapple carriages.

NZL