Timber takes sea route in environmental trials

in the next decade, the search for a suitable alternative to narrow

rural roads, and not-so-rural roads, being clogged up with timber

lorries is a daunting one.

Sea transport has begun to present itself as the environmentally

acceptable means of moving timber.

Glenlight Shipping Limited of Greenock was formed in 1968 when it

operated with 17 puffers of Para Handy fame. Their traditional business

had been taking coal out to the Western Isles, returning with casks of

whisky. Today, Glenlight has 50 employees, and carries the same tonnage

in three coasters -- of 400, 700 and 1400 tonnes.

Alex Fawcett, managing director of Glenlight, takes up the story. ''In

the late 1970s we fitted out our coasters with travelling gantry cranes

to handle timber, and built up this trade. Last year we shipped over

35,000 tonnes of roundwood from the west coast of Scotland.''

The question of accessibility of the huge investment in afforestation

from the 1950s onwards does not seem to have received much consideration

from the foresters of 40 years ago. It is now a major problem in the

islands and down the west coast.

Noting the projected harvesting volumes increasing dramatically,

Glenlight entered into discussions with timber growers, processors and

the authorities. Arising from these talks, the shipping company

developed the concept of using barges running on to beaches, and strong

enough to withstand the rigours of west coast weather.

The order for such a barge was placed with Harland & Wolff of Belfast.

Delivery was taken in January of this year, and trials have been going

on since then.

The barge, recently named Sprucelight, is 45 metres in length by 12

metres wide. It is a floating box with some refinements, with

roll-on-roll-off flaps specially strengthened to take aboard

fully-loaded timber lorries which discharged and load the timber with

their own hoists. Capacity is 650 tonnes of timber, deadweight.

''Of course, we also needed a tug,'' said Mr Fawcett, ''and this has

been supplied by our parent company, Clyde Shipping Company Limited.''

Three landing places for the trials have been established -- on Arran,

near Carradale and on Loch Fyne. Timber has been delivered to Caledonian

Paper and Caberboard at Irvine, and to Northern Ireland.

Its biggest engagement to date has been the removal of around 1000

tonnes of spruce, larch, and pine blown down by fierce gales which swept

the island of Raasay in recent winters.

With the help of Highland Regional Council and Forest Enterprise, the

barge managed to ''dock'' at the remote area where the trees had been

flattened and succeeded in transporting them off the island.

The benefits of taking large timber vehicles off inadequate roads are

obvious. Mr Fawcett is not short of examples. ''Take Kintyre. Timber at

present has to be taken up round the Rest and Be Thankful, through the

Glasgow area and down to Caledonian Paper in Irvine -- 300 miles on

public roads. This can be achieved by a short sea route, using forest

roads except for two miles of public roads.''

This has been an expensive bullet for Glenlight to bite. The tug alone

represents a #500,000 investment, with another #500,000 for the barge.

The next stage, and it is close to being decided, is the investment of

a further #1m for two more barges to enable the system to operate to its

optimum efficiency. ''What we see eventually, particularly for the Firth

of Clyde,'' said Mr Fawcett, ''is a three barge and tug system; one

barge being loaded, one being moved, and one being discharged. We should

be able to move 120,000 tonnes of timber a year with three barges.''

For such an investment, timber cargo guarantees might not seem

unreasonable. ''We think we should be getting more encouragement from

the Scottish Office to take heavy traffic off the roads. We are very

encouraged by the support we are getting from the forestry industry, and

we have had a grant for the trials from Highlands & Islands

Enterprise.''

It seems perverse that the Scottish Office removed the Tariff

Reduction Subsidy in 1991 for timber carried from the mainland to the

mainland. The subsidy remains for the islands, Skye and Mull for

example, but not for timber carried from Kintyre to Ardrossan.

Strathclyde Region is enthusiastic about the barge system. Their

saving on rural roads development in South Argyll alone could be #1m a

year. Highland Regional Council welcomes the Glenlight initiative, for

their problem is that the forests tend to be located in the remoter

parts of the Highlands where the road network is at its poorest.

Says Gordon Little of Iggesund Timber at Workington: ''We have been

taking timber from Glenlight's coasters for the past 10 years and they

have provided an excellent service. We have encouraged the barge

concept. It still needs development and requires commitment by people

like ourselves, the growers, the local authorities and government to get

the system running.''

Toby Beadle, timber director of Caledonian Paper, considers it a brave

decision of Glenlight Shipping to make such a large investment. ''The

roads in the peninsulas are pretty poor and sensitive to traffic,

particularly during the summer. We and others are particularly keen to

persuade the Forestry Commission to offer work to Glenlight.

''The company should not have to tender for each tiny piece of

business. There should be some long-term way of providing guarantees of

work.

''We have taken deliveries of timber from the barge and there have

been no problems.''

The Forestry Commission has participated actively in the Glenlight

trials by providing infrastructure works and timber. ''The FC,'' says

Donald Thompson, timber marketing officer of Forest Enterprise,

''transports only part of the timber being harvested -- the pulpwood. It

sells the standing timber and sawlogs, the transportation of which is

the responsibility of the new owners. This can lead to guarantee

complications for, to save on roads expenditure in sea transport areas,

all the timber must go by sea.

''To be helpful, we are going to have more medium-term contracts than

we have had before, a policy shift to encourage continuity. This will

enable Glenlight to find customers able to take on, say, a three-year

basis, instead of one-off's.''

Of concern to the FC is the need to ensure, over two or three seasons,

that the barges can operate all the year round.

''The barge system,'' says Donald Thompson, ''is the obvious means of

transport down the west coast. There are the environmental benefits.

Transport costs will be reduced substantially. What we have to ensure is

that with such a long-term development the very best solutions for all

concerned are achieved.''