Browsing by Subject "uitto"

Finland’s interconnected waterways have been greatly beneficial for the country’s forest industry. Waterway transportation takes two forms: timber floating as well as barge transport. This research describes the historic decline of waterway transportation, its current status, and gives perspectives on the future with the help of a literature review and a survey. More specifically, this research will look at timber floating and barge transport in Finland with the help of the following questions: 1. How have timber floating and barge transport changed in Finland? 2. What does the future of industrial wood transportation in Finland look like from the perspective of experts in the field? I will answer these questions by first conducting a literature review to investigate the different forms of waterway transportation from the 19th century into the present. Second, with the help of a survey (conducted in 2018), I will examine future perspectives on the field. The survey respondents are experts from fields of the forest and wood transportation industries, government officials, and waterway experts. Timber floating is the most traditional form of waterway transportation. However, its use has declined since the 1950s mainly as a result of developments in roads and transport technology. In the 1960s, use of road transportation for long-distance shipping of timber overtook that of water transport. Before the 1980s, barge transportation worked alongside timber floating, but subsequently came to be acknowledged as its own form of transportation. In 2012, barge transport overtook timber floating in terms of total roundwood haulage. In approximately 50 years, waterway transportation has gone from being the most important method of long distance wood transport to the least important. This thesis pays specific attention to contemporary and future perspectives on the usage and amount of waterway transportation, infrastructure, and cost effectiveness. Historically, waterborne timber transportation has allowed wood and sawmill industries to function, and in turn significantly contributed to the national economy. Furthermore, it has influenced the location of housing, roads, and railway networks, and importantly, contributed to the development of the Saimaa canal. Waterway transportation has declined and changed. However, it could have considerable importance in the future considering such diverse factors as the transport volume, waterway environment, logging in the surrounding areas, and transportation in general, in an energy efficient, economic and clean manner. This research encourages investment in the development of innovative waterway timber transportation.