I’m a forestry student at Hamk evo, In our first wood procurement module, we’ve been learning about how Finnish geography creates real problems for the forest industry. Finland is a very beautiful country, and it has a lot of forests. Most of the land is covered by trees. But moving wood from the forest to the factory is very hard. The geography of Finland makes it difficult—and so do the long distances and the short growing season. For example, timber harvested in northern Finland may travel more than 500 kilometers to a mill in southern Finland. Here is why this is such a challenge.
First, the ground in Finland is very soft. There are many lakes, rivers, and swamps. The soil is wet. This is a big problem because the trucks and machines that carry wood are very heavy. If they drive on soft ground, they sink. They get stuck in the mud. It is a big mess.
Second, winter weather is very important. In Finland, the winters are long and cold. When it is very cold, the ground freezes. This is actually good for wood transportation. When the ground is hard like ice, the heavy trucks can drive into the forest. They can pick up the wood easily.
But here is the problem. In the spring, the snow melts. The ground gets soft again. This time is called “kelirikko”. During this time, the forest roads are very muddy. Trucks cannot drive on them. So, the wood has to wait. This causes big delays and costs a lot of money.
Also, climate change is making this worse. The winters are getting warmer now. The ground does not freeze as deep as before. So the time when trucks can drive in the forest is getting shorter. This is a big worry for the forest industry.
And there is one more problem. The small roads in the forest are not very strong. They are made of gravel. When a very heavy wood truck drives on them, the road can break. This makes it even harder to move the wood.
So, as you can see, Finnish geography is nice to look at, but it creates a lot of problems for moving wood. The soft ground, the muddy spring, the weak roads, the long transport distances, sometimes over 500 kilometers—and the short growing season are all big challenges. I think the forest companies have to work very hard to solve these problems. It’s been interesting to learn how these natural conditions shape the whole wood procurement chain.
