Articles containing the keyword 'floating'

In Finland the first trade union in the field of forest work and timber floating was founded in 1946 and the first formal collective agreement was achieved in 1962. Information about the development of wage payments and work conditions (lodging and food) in forest work prior to the formal agreements was dispersed in a number of different sources, and is already partially in danger of being forgotten. The aim of this study was to bring together all available information concerning the matter in question.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Makkonen, E-mail: om@mm.unknown

Hydroelectric plants are being planned or already built in Northern Finland. The complete terracing and regulation of watercourses necessary for the power plants will mean great changes in floating conditions and hence for forestry, for which floating is the principal means of transport. Consequently, the Cabinet appointed a committee in 1958 to ascertain the economic, technical and legislative questions connected with timber transport in the area.

The committee has found that about half of the country’s forest area and two thirds of its water power resources are situated in Northern Finland. A prerequisite for the wise utilization of the forest in Northern Finland is an increase in fellings. This can only be put into effect by improving the means of transport, especially the floating channels. The financing required by the organization of floating connected with the building of the hydroelectric power plants amounts to about 10,000 million marks over a period of 20 years.

The committee has suggested that an advisory committee on floating should be established. Its most important task would be to try to produce a general programme for the organization of floating under the changed conditions, and that the State should participate in the expenditure caused by the organization as regards the capital investment needed for changing over to bundle floating.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Pohjois-Suomen uitto-olojen järjestelykomitea, E-mail: –

The state of Finland had to intervene in the forest wages after the wages had dropped very low during depression in 1932-33. Even able-bodied workers were forced to resort to communal poor aid. Therefore, the Ministry of Communications and Public Works imposed in winter 1932-33 a study on the level of forest wages. Based on the investigations it was decided to develop control and guidance of forest and floating wages. A committee was appointed to follow the development of forest wages and to promote the formation of the wages on a reasonable level.
The country was divided into 14 wage districts, and for each district was confirmed an own norm of wages in accordance with the costs of living in the area. Inspectors controlled the wages primarily in such work places that were complaind of. Consequently, the earnings increased yearly in the 1930s.
During the Second World War, the main objective of economic policy of the government of Finland was to prevent inflation. The regulation of wages strived to compensate workers for the war-time rise in the cost of living. The Econimic Powers Act issued in 1941 was the first legislation that concerned regulation of wages. The Wages Commission prepared from the winter 1942 onward the wage tables per unit of forest works for employers. During the war, the employers were prepared to pay higher wages than the wage authorities considered possible.
Right after the war the main concern of wage control was that because of labour shortage forest and floating wages rose too high. From the end of 1948 onward, however, the principal task was to prevent paying of too low wages. Regulation did not succeed in preventing inflatory rise in wages in postwar conditions, and it was necessary to rise wages continually.

The Union of the Finnish Forest and Floating Workers was founded in 1946, and it concluded a collection agreement with the Employers’ Association of the Finnish Woodworking Industries in 1947. After 1949 the forest workers were represented in the Central League of Finnis Trade Unions (SAK). The regulation of wages ended in 1955, and after that the level of wages were negotiated by the labour market organizations.

The article includes a summary in English.

• Hellén, E-mail: eh@mm.unknown
• Blåfield, E-mail: gb@mm.unknown
• Havukkala, E-mail: mh@mm.unknown
• Sajama, E-mail: os@mm.unknown

In Finland, the wage norms of forest wages have been defined by the government since 1935. However, no official tariffs have been drawn for mechanical bundling in water for floating in bundles. The aim of the investigation was to find out the correlation between the bundling result and the size of logs to be bundled, and how it affects the differences observed in earnings between the different types of devices used in the work. The aim is a more equal bundling tariff in cases where the log size is not the variable. The investigation was based mainly on diaries of bunders of Enso-Gutzeit Oy.

A tariff was formulated based on the results of the investigation. A unit tariff was obtained for bundling of timber differing in size by dividing the earnings of bundling an average timber by the unit number of logs differing in size from the average and bundled in a corresponding period. The tariff was not able to produce even earnings on all bunching machines, but a tariff that takes account log size may be recommended when the aim is an equal wage payment.

The article includes a summary in English.

• Roitto, E-mail: yr@mm.unknown

Silva Fennica Issue 69 includes presentations held in 1948-1950 in the fourth professional development courses, arranged for foresters working in the Forest Service. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service.

This presentation describes the development of forest haulage and long-distance transportation of timber. The article gives examples of improving the effectivity of horse hauling, use of tractors, loading of timber and floating, and gives examples of new equipment used in timber transport.

• Kantola, E-mail: mk@mm.unknown

Silva Fennica Issue 69 includes presentations held in 1948-1950 in the fourth professional development courses, arranged for foresters working in the Forest Service. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service.

Floating channels of Northern Finland have been unable to fulfill all the needs of wood transportation of the area. This presentation presents diferent ways to improve the efficiency of floating by improving working methods and the channels, and thus decreasing costs of wood transportation.

• Kivelä, E-mail: ak@mm.unknown

Silva Fennica Issue 69 includes presentations held in 1948-1950 in the fourth professional development courses, arranged for foresters working in the Forest Service. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service.

This presentation discusses opportunities to increase the use of working machines, such as tractors, in construction of roads and floating channels, which have been little used in Finland. The presentation summarizes the machines available and their use based on experiences in Sweden.

• Koskenmaa, E-mail: ek@mm.unknown

Silva Fennica issue 42 includes presentations held in professional development courses, arranged for foresters working in public administration in 1936. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service

This presentation describes the personnel maintenance in forest work and floating.

• Räsänen, E-mail: ar@mm.unknown

Silva Fennica Issue 39 includes presentations held in professional development courses in 1935 that were arranged for foresters working in public administration. The presentations focus on practical issues in forest management and administration, especially in regional level. The education was arranged by Forest Service.

This presentation describes statistics of wages in forest work and in floating.

• Hellén, E-mail: eh@mm.unknown

Majority of the timber floated in Finland has been floated loose. Repair of the floating channels in the end of 1800s decreased the amount of sunken logs and loss of timber during the transportation. The increase of floating of pulpwood and other small timber has later increased the number of sunken logs. More information is needed on the amount and quality of floated timber, also the floating channels should be classified. A detailed study plan to investigate how big proportion of the timber is lost during floating, which factors influence the sinking of timber, and how the timber dries in the forest depots is presented. A classification of timber by its floatability is presented.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Lassila, E-mail: il@mm.unknown

In Finland roundwood is floated either privately or co-operatively. In the later, a co-operative floating association is established to operate floating. The association is compulsory association of those enterprises who want to have wood floated along the floating routes of the area. It is favoured when the number of enterprises and the wood to be floated is large. In addition, costs are lower than in private floating.

Floating in Lake Saimaa area in Central Finland can be divided into Iso-Saimaa, where floating is private, and into Saimaa Water System, where floating is operated by a co-operative floating association. It has been suggested that adoption of co-operative floating in Iso-Saimaa would be to the common interest. This study aimed at finding out if co-operative floating influences the transport costs, and if co-operative floating increases competition of roundwood by forest industry companies.

According to the study, the costs of most enterprises would decrease. The total decrease in costs would amount to 65 million Finnish marks annually, about 20% less than the present costs. The change of organization would not alter the competitive relationship in buying roundwood. On the other hand, it would seem that co-operative floating would be less flexible than private floating. The management of a large organization, whose effective operation time would cover only a part of the year, would meet with some difficulties. Also, co-operative floating would reduce competition among enterprises.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Roitto, E-mail: yr@mm.unknown

This paper aims at investigating which factors, in the point of view of the entrepreneur, define the choice of long-distance transport either as floating in bundles, steamship transport or barge transport in the waterway system of Lake Saimaa in 1950s. It defines the usage, kind of fleet, operation and costs of the abovesaid modes of transport. The investigation is mainly based on statistics of Enso-Gutzeit Oyj and the fuel office of the Finnish State Railways.

Location of the industrial enterprise sets the limits for use of the different modes of transport of roundwood. Previous decisions can influence the future choices, for instance, the capital the company has earler invested on the transportation system. Also, the type and amount of timber acquired by the company, transportation distance, time, and means of transport affect the choice of mode of transport. Those factors that direct decision-making, often lead the entrepreneur to stick to the chosen mode of transport.

Floating becomes the more inexpensive the larger the scale of operation is, and if the timber assortment is suitable for floating and water storage. For instance, dry wood is an asset for a wood export agency, and their sales have often time pressures, which rules floating out of their choices. Transportation in vessels has decreased to 4% of all roundwood haulage, but has its function as a supplementary way of transport.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Roitto, E-mail: yr@mm.unknown

The investigation is based mainly on the material collected for Finnish rural labour force study in connection with the 1950 Population Census. A total of 44,667 men, aged 15-64, were interviewed in connection of the census, and a sub-group consisting of a sample of the forest and floating labour, 28,850 men, was formed for this study. Finnish rural population typically cultivates the land, tends cattle, works in the forest, builds roads and houses and floats timber without specializing in any of these jobs. The work done in the own farms is called unpaid work in this study in contrast to paid work outside the farm.

The paid forest and floating labour force (308,600 men) includes all forest and floating workers who reported that they have worked for a minimum of one day. Forest work is heavily winter-dominated. Only in the floating work there was a declining trend in the time series of 1933-1934 and 1942-1955. The average forest and floating labour input per man was small, 40-70 days depending on the occupational group. Only 13,000 workers worked over 200 days, and 32,000 worked 150 days. 44% of the paid forest and floating workers were members of families cultivating small farms, 26% had larger farms, and the remaining 30% were farmless or members of a family holding a building lot.

The main difficulty in finding manpower for summertime forest work seems not to be the lack of time for paid work because of the men’s unpaid work. They seem to prefer other, more attractive paid work.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Heikinheimo, E-mail: lh@mm.unknown
• Ristimäki, E-mail: tr@mm.unknown

The article comprises some of the principal results of the labour force material collected in connection with the 1950 census of Finland. It includes the basic tables in which are listed the calculated estimates of total number of rural male forest and floating labour force, their labour input to agriculture, forestry and floating in 1950. In addition, division of the labour force into farmers and not-farmers and by districts are presented. The unemployment time and relief work input of the rural population was also calculated.

Finland’s economic situation in 1950 was characterized by a slow recovery from depression of the previous year. The situation had not yet improved in such measure that would have relieved appreciably the rural unemployment that arose from shortage of work available in the forest.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Heikinheimo, E-mail: lh@mm.unknown

The wage problems of forest workers were first studied in 1931-1932, when the depression compelled the enforcement of a wage control system in forestry, and thus produced statistics on the earnings of forest workers. When the wage controls were introduced in 1934, it was necessary to determine wage norms on which to base the assessment on working results.

Three different norms were defined. The norm of daily earnings means the amount an adult, able-bodied, skilled forest worker should be able to earn in an 8-hour day at piece work. The norm of daily salary is the amount of a forest worker should be able to earn in an 8-hour day at time rates, and the wage norm per hour for floating workers is the amount a floating worker should receive per hour. The wages are controlled by special inspectors, and statistics on wages are collected by reports of the inspectors.

The Acta Forestalia Fennica issue 61 was published in honour of professor Eino Saari’s 60th birthday.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Hellén, E-mail: eh@mm.unknown

The costs of floating have increased by about 20-fold after the Second World War in Finland, which has raised concerns in the forest sector. At the same time, the costs of road transport have increased by 16% and costs of rail transport by 15%. Floating has been replaced mainly by road transport in transport of roundwood, especially near the factories. This development is likely to continue as new roads are built and the truck fleet develops.  

In spite of the changes in timber transportation, floating was still the most common way of transporting roundwood in 1952: 69% of saw logs, 53% of veneer timber, 42% of domestic pulp wood, 14% of exported pulp wood and mining timber and 14% of firewood was transported by a water route. There are several ways to improve the efficiency of floating and decrease its costs. This can be achieved in two ways. First, using modern technology, such as tugboats, bundlers and other equipment, and second, improving the operation and co-operation between different actors.  

The PDF includes a summary in German. 

• Stolpe, E-mail: ns@mm.unknown

About 17.5% of forest lands of Finland is situated around the river and lake system of Lake Saimaa. Furthermore, the growth of the forests  of the area correspond about 25% of the total growth of forests in Finland. The watersystem is one of the most important portages of roundwood in the country. It consists 11,000 km of floating channels, 2,000 km of which suit for floating in bundles. Annually 30-35 million cu ft of saw logs, 7 million cu ft of veneer timber and 2,5-3 million cu ft of pulp wood is floated in the area.

Even if the water system at present still suits well for floating, there are many opportunities for development, which would improve its competitiveness against other modes of transport. Several different sites where building of floating channels or improving the floatways are needed are described in the article.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Roitto, E-mail: wr@mm.unknown

The principal method of transporting timber for long distances in Finland is floating. It is supplemented in the principal forest districts by transport in ships, by rail and lorries. However, in north-eastern and northern parts of the country the main water systems flow into Arctic Ocean, and floating cannot be used to transport timber. The area does not have railroad and road network is sparse. The poor accessibility has hindered the use of forest in the area. A division of the Tuntsa-Oulanka and Arctic Ocean water system area into supply areas is presented.

The PDF includes a summary in English.

• Seppänen, E-mail: os@mm.unknown

The length of drivable water courses in Finland was about 43,800 km in 1936, while the length of the water courses used by the floating associations was 12,467 km. The aim of the survey was to study the volume of timber in private (or separate) floating and co-operative floating operated by the floating associations in Lake Saimaa water system, and how floating was administrated in the area.

According to the study, the floating channels of the area are in good condition. Floating of timber in rafts is common in Lake Saimaa water system. The proportion of co-operative floating is smaller than in the other major water systems in Finland, and the administration of floating is, therefore, unusual. The reason for this is the nature of the water system, the wood procurement policy of the industry, the disinterest of the private forest owners towards organized floating, and the way the authorities apply the Water Rights Act. The present system is beneficial to the forest companies that float big quantities of timber, but increase of co-operative floating would avail the small and medium industry and floaters, wood selling forest owners and the workforce.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Seppänen, E-mail: os@mm.unknown

Forestry has been almost the sole source of employment during winter in the forested areas of Finland. The aim of this study was to investigate the number of men and horses working in logging and haulage in different times of year in 1933‒1934. The felling and haulage of household timber was not included in the study. The amount of work days was calculated using the statistics of wood consumption. The work days in logging was 10.0 million days in 1933 and 11.9 million days in 1934. Accordingly, approximately 3.6 million work days was done in horse-haulage in 1933 and 4.3 million in 1934. The forest companies and Metsähallitus (Forest Service) employed most employees in wood harvesting in January‒March, in average 14,300‒25,700 men and 3,300‒9,300 horses per month. The number of employees was lowest in August.

In floating, 1 million work days was done in 1934 and 1,1 million in 1934. Most employees were hired in April‒June. Floating is an important source of employment for the landless people when the fellings stop in the spring. The farmers working in wood harvesting can move to work in their farms.

• Pöntynen, E-mail: vp@mm.unknown

 The numerous waterways have promoted the development of forest industry in Finland by offering an easy way to transport timber almost in the whole country. Floating associations arrange the floating for its members. This study, accomplished in the Forest Research Institute, compiles the statistics of the different associations in 1922­‒1927.  The volume of timber transported by the floating associations increased by 40% during the 6-year period, reaching 10.5 million m³ in 1927. The increase has been supported by the number of collectively used floating channels. The number of the floating associations increase from 17 to 26 and the length of the floating channels used by them to 8,300 km in 1922‒1927. About 70‒80% of the transported timber was logs and the 20‒30% small timber. Floated timber comprised 70-80% of the all roundwood used in the forest industry in Finland at the time. Majority of the logs were softwood.

The PDF includes a summary in German.

• Sierla, E-mail: vs@mm.unknown

The transport unit in roundwood towing on Lake Iso-Saimaa in Central Finland comprises a tug and a raft of bundled wood with a towline between them. There are several factors influencing the economic size of the transport unit in roundwood towing. These are changing with the enterprises and along with general developments. In this paper these factors or factor groups are seen from the point of view of the enterprise. The main question is to determine the most economic combination of tug and raft size.

From the point of view of the towing enterprises the unit costs of transport are the most decisive factor. Both the size of the raft as well as the power of the tug influence strongly the unit costs. As a long-term goal a raft of about 35,000 m³ and a tug of 550 kW or more is considered to be advisable. The width of channels and sounds then allow a free passage for rafts being 36–40 m wide.

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish and in French.

• Roitto, E-mail: yr@mm.unknown