The use of flat rafting units during the Initia Timber rafting

Abstract

The prohibition of drift floating used in the initial timber rafting led to an increase in the cost of supplying timber to consumers. Nowadays, the technology for rafting operations on small and medium-sized rivers is developing in two directions. The first is the use of bunches (micro-bundles) in initial timber rafting which, after rafting along the rivers with limiting rafting dimensions, are joined together to form, for example, a two-tiered bunch of rafting units. The second is the use of flat rafting units in initial timber rafting. In order to implement modern flat rafting units in initial timber rafting, an in-depth substantiation of the economic advantages of these rafting units compared to micro-bundles is required. The article proposes to carry out the assessment by using an inequality. At one end the inequality expresses the costs for rafting of flat rafting units with their subsequent joining into larger timber transportation units, drift floating of flat rafting units, forming rafts from them, towing these rafts, purchasing machines and equipment to organize rafting, and expenses for hauling the timber, which remain from the wood harvested during the year due to the close of navigation and limitation of rafting volume by insufficient carrying capacity, by overland transport. At the other end the inequality expresses similar parameters for micro-bundle rafting. Analytical dependencies setting up the above-mentioned parameters are found. The costs for timber hauling by overland transport considered in the method indicate that due to inefficient use of the carrying capacity of the rafting stroke the volume of timber rafting on a given section of the rafting route decreases. Consequently, there is a need to deliver the remaining timber to floating depots by land transport. The implementation of flat rafting units in initial timber rafting should provide higher carrying capacity of a rafting route compared to micro-bundles by reducing the draft and hence the volume of timber delivered to the floating depots by expensive overland transport. For citation: Vasiliev V.V., Afonichev D.N. The Use of Flat Rafting Units during the Initial Timber Rafting. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2022, no. 1, pp. 128–142. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2022-1-128-142