The movement of pulpwood from forest to market can be a critical and costly activity. Many factors influence this movement and contribute to its complexity. In 1963, a study was undertaken to quantitatively describe the distribution patterns of trucked pulpwood for a representative area of the state of Maine.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1074/thumbnail.jp

Corcoran, Thomas J.

Schroeder, Daniel I.

Thompson, David B.

English

University of Maine

The University of MaineDigitalCommons@UMaineBulletins Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station5-1966B640: An Evaluation of the Distribution of TruckedPulpwood in East-Central MaineThomas J. CorcoranDaniel I. SchroederDavid B. ThompsonFollow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletinPart of the Forest Management Commons, and the Wood Science and Pulp, Paper TechnologyCommonsThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Bulletins by an authorizedadministrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact um.library.technical.services@maine.edu.Recommended CitationCorcoran, T.J., D.l. Schroeder, and D.B. Thompson. 1966. An evaluation of the distribution of trucked pulpwood in east-central Maine.Maine Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 640.AN EVALUATION OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF TRUCKED PULPWOOD IN EAST-CENTRAL MAINE Thomas J. Corcoran Daniell. Schroeder David B. Thompson ...... eCt to'· 5uu } BULLETIN 640 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION MAY 1966 b· fi 'j '" Or all ., Js c\) lOt Cill ., J s "f..\) ..;: t J;:::;l UNIVERSITY OF MAINE .t" lJ Cil:1.d ., is hj FOREWORD The map, opposite page, depicts the townships (numbered) in east-central Maine that participated in the 1963 supply of pulpwood trucked from woodlands to delivery stations in this area. The num-bered townships are identified in the appendix. Questions have been advanced in recent years concerning the practice of cross-hauling and its effect on a pulpwood distribution system. This study attempts to place a measure on the cross-hauling and other seemingly costly hauling practices. The fact that the study was undertaken and presented herein does in no way mean to imply that these so-called problems can or should be overcome. The authors wish to extend their appreciation to the many firms that engaged in trucking pulpwood in east-central Maine during 1963 for the direct or indirect cooperation in this and a prior study. Special acknowledgment is due to Gerald F. Dube of the University of Maine's Computer Center for his assistance in connection with the computational portions of this study. .7 f-+-}-jl-+-+-rl" .,1 IS . ~+_!-+_!-+--I tn OJ "" .. AN EVALUATION OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF TRUCKED PULP-WOOD IN EAST-CENTRAL MAINE (a linear programming application) Thomas J. Corcoran 1 - Daniel 1. Schroeder - David B. Thompson Introduction The movement of pulpwood from forest to market can 'be a critical and costly activity. Many factors influence this movement and contribute to its complexity. In 1963, a study was undertaken to quantitatively describe the distribution patterns of trucked pulp-wood for a representative area of the state of Maine. Nearly all of the pulpwood harvested in the area is transported at one point or another by truck. A large part of it was transported by truck , exclusively. The published results of the 1963 study 2 provided breakdowns of information on trucked pulpwood based upon woodland origins and the ownerships of these origins, hauling seasons, type of hauling agencies, load compositions, hauling distances , and other categories . During the progress of the study, it was noted that truckloads of pulpwood were frequently transported from their woodJandorigins 3 to markets which were more distant than other available markets in the area.4 Some of these loads pass by one potential purchasing J Associate Professor, former Graduate Assistant , and current Graduate Assistant respectively. 2 Schroeder, Daniel I. and Thomas J. Corcoran . 1965. Distribution patterns of trucked pulpwood in east-central Maine. Maine Agr. Exp . ta o Bul. 630. 3Woodland origin is defined for purposes of the study as the township in which a woodland was located. 4 An available market is defined for purposes of this study as a purchasing point or delivery point (e. g., pulp mill or rail head) which will accept a specified type of pulpwood. Type refers to species or species group and its condition, peeled or rough . 1 point on their way to another purchasing point.s It was further noted that pulpwood of a specific type from some woodland origins was marketed at as many as three different purchasing points. One of these points normally could be expected to have a location ad-vantage in respect to a particular woodland origin . These occurrences suggest higher-than-necessary transportation charges to the firms directly involved in the pulpwood movements . Naturally, factors other than transportation costs influence the de-cision to move pulpwood from a specific woodland origin to a specific delivery point. In general, some apparent reasons which prompt pulp-wood suppliers to incur the increased costs of transportation in these situations may be: 1. Differences in net returns to pulpwood shipments because of variation between available markets in the basic price of delivered wood, payment of mileage differentials, determina-tion of load scales, or methods of making payment to pulpwood suppliers. 2. Arrangements that result from contracts, traditions, or direct business integration between the pulpwood supplying agency and the firm receiving delivery of the pulpwood. Even though an individual pulpwood supplier6 may tend to react in his best interest in regard to decisions among available markets at a given time and facing a given set of conditions, it does not necessarily follow that the aggregate actions of all pulpwood suppliers produce the most advantageous results to the pulpwood industry as a whole. In the light of the aforementioned occurrences involving increased hauling distances, it would seem to be desirable to es-tablish for a specified period of time the degree of influence these practices have on transportation costs for east-central Maine's pulp-wood industry. It was for this purpose that the present investigation was initiated. ' This practice has been termed "cross-hauling" . 6 A pulpwood supplier may be a pulp and paper firm , pulpwood jobber or producer, or any agency engaged in supplying available markets with pulpwood. 2 Analysis Methods and Results This evaluation of the 1963 pulpwood distribution system is based upon a comparison between the 1963 system and a " hypothetically ideal system". Basically, it contrasts but one aspect of these two systems or the total mileage traveled in truck deliveries of all pulp-wood loads in the geographic area. Tablel provides for this contrast by species-condition classes and for all species in aggregate. 7 Information in the table indicates for each pulpwood type: A. The total pulpwood volume in cords trucked during 1963 in the east-central Maine area' (see map) and identification of townships in appendix II). B. The total number of truckloads of pulpwood that make up the total volume. C. The average size in cords of a truckload of pulpwood. D. The number of different townships from which one or more truckloads originated. E. The number of different delivery or purchasing points at which one or more truckloads was accepted. F. The total one-way8 miles required to make all of the actual 1963 truckload deliveries. H. The total one-way miles that might have been traveled in makiJ.lg all deliveries under the hypotbetical (optimal) sy_stem. I . The difference between the total hypothetical miles and total actual miles traveled by all truckloads. J. The average distance in one-way miles that might have been traveled under the hypothetical system. K. The difference between the average hypothetical and average 1963 load triQ (one-way) distances. L. The difference in total trucking costs between the 1963 system and the hypothetical system under the assumptions that the operating cost of a non-descriptive truck is 30 cents per mile and that round trip distances are equal to twice the load trip (one-way) distance. M. The total trucking cost differential on a per cord basis. 7In table I the term " actual" refers to the 1963 system and the term "optimal" to the hypothetical system. 8 From woodland origin to delivery destination. 3, ~ Table 1 - Aggregate information by species-condition classes for actual and optimal deliveries of all trucked pulpwood in east-central Maine during 1963 Ddiveryor Total Total Average Township purchasin~ Species (condition) volume truckloads load size o rigin s A 13 C=( A/ B) D (~ords) (no .) (cords) (no.) Spruce-fir (rough) 153,943 29,100 5.3 183 Spruce-fir (peeled) 56 ,633 8,429 6.7 122 Hardwoods (rougb) 140,851 29,785 4.7 179 Hardwoods (peeled) 7,796 1,608 4.8 76 Hemlock (rough) 17 ,007 3,066 5.5 82 Hemlock (peeled) 61 ,782 8,543 7.2 125 All species 438,012 80,531 5.4 258 Total Tota l optimal load tri p Average load trip di stance optimal load Spec ies (condition ) distance differential t rip di sta nce 1-1 I=CF'-H) .I =i H/B ) (miles) ( miles) (mil es) Spruce-fir (rough) 713 ,729 82 ,688 24 .5 Spruce-fir (peeled) 499,854 45,725 59 .3 Hardwoods (rough) 1,025 ,892 98 ,719 34.4 Hardwoods (peeled) 69,454 13,490 43 .2 Hemlock (rougb) 84 ,781 2,435 27 .7 Hemlock (peeled) 416,531 54 ,740 48 .8 All species 2 ,810,241 297,797 34 .9 "Based upon an esti mated cost of 30 r.;ent s per mile and under th e assu mption that return trip distances are equal to the load trip dist ances . points E (no.) 7 5 3 4 4 6 8 ;\verage load tri p distan ce differential K=(C-j) Illliles ) 2.9 5.4 3.4 8.4 0.7 6.4 3 .7 ~--.. Total ac tual load trip eli~tal1ce F (miles) 796,417 545,579 1,124,611 82,944 87,216 471,271 3,108,038 Total round trip differen tial cost" L=II) (2) (30e) (>; ) 49,613 27,435 59,231 8,094 1,461 32 ,844 178,678 Average act ualloacl trip di stance C =( F /13) (miles ) 27.4 64 .7 37.8 51.6 28.4 55 .2 38.6 Hound trip di fferential cost ler co re· \I = (L!A I ( ~ ) 0.32 0.48 0.42 1.04 0_09 0_53 0.41 1 ) 1 j The actual figures presented (A-G) were established from pur-chasing point records or from expansion of a 9.357c sample 9 of all truckloads participating in the 1963 supply. Optimal total mileages were determined through a linear program-ming technique, the transportation model (appendix 1) 10 . Actual figures were related to or contrasted with optimal figures where ap-propriate . In establishing actual figures, whenever loads of mixed species-condition types were encountered, loads and mileages were applied on a proportionate basis. The tran portation model provides for the movement of pulpwood by truckload units of each pecies-condition type so that the total mileage expended in the delivery of the year's supply of that species type would be a minimum. It should be noted that the model does not nece sarily eliminate cros -hauling, but would tend to reduce excessive occurrences of cross-hauling. In the model each woodland origin 's capacity to partiCipate in the supply was defined by the total number of truckloads of a pulp-wood type delivered during the year from that woodland to purchasing points in the area. The requirements of each delivery destination were established by the total number of truckloads of a pulpwood type received during the year at that destination from woodlands in the area. A truckload could be considered as of average load size. Since capacities were what was actually delivered from the origins, and requirements were what was actually received at the destinations, total capacity for any given pulpwood type equaled the total re-quirement for the type. The model does not provide for movements of pulpwood at specified times during the year, only for the year as a whole. Mileages between the various combinations of origins and destinations were the actual trip mileages encountered or were de-termined by scaling road map distances by the most direct reasonable route. Conclusions It is notthe intent of the authors to justify or even suggest actions that might be undertaken by the pulpwood trucking industry to achieve some form of optimality in the truck delivery of pulpwood. As ~)Total number of truckloads sampled that had application to this analysis was 7,700 . JO Computation s accomplished on IBNI ·1620 computer under library program 1620· LM-017 , ~lodiJication o . 2, ersion I, entitled: Transportation Program with Indirect Addressing" . 5 stated earlier, the study objective was merely to establish the influence sub-optimal trucking practices have on the total transportation cost structure facing the industry in east-central Maine and thereby provide a measure of the potential worth of subsequent actions. This in-fluence has been quantified by the comparison between optimal and actual miles or the costs applied to these mileages in the table. On a relative basis for the all-species category the dollar savings attributed to the optimal situation represents about 1.5 to 2.5% of the total value of the delivered product and up to 10% of the total delivery cost. Percentages for some specific pulpwood types would be higher or lower than the percentages above, e. g. , peeled hardwoods and rough hemlock. Furthermore, while the cost differential refers to a particular year, in any year in which a trucking system similar to the 1963 system was active, a differential of the same order could be expected. It will be left to the concern andjudgment of the pulpwood truck-ing industry whether the magnitude of the figures provided warrant serious attention. However, it should be recognized that it is unlikely that savings in the full amount of $178,678 could be realistically achieved as the hypothetical distribution suggests. This would have required full planning and control of the distribution system. Even if legalistic and practical problems were avoidable, planning and control themselves represent costs to the system. 6 APPENDIX I Transportation Model for each species-condition type m Minimize.t, = L i=1 m Subject to: L i=1 n L j=1 when, m n L j=1 Xij = bj .. .for all j's x· · IJ = ai .. .for all i's Xij ~ 0 .... for all i's and j's L ai = i=1 m = the total number of woodland origins from which pulpwood was delivered in 1963 for each species-condition type. n = the total number of delivery or purchasing destinations to which pulpwood was delivered in 1963 for each species-condition type. = denotes the identity of the woodland origin = denotes the identity of the destination Cij = the one-way mUes between the ith origin imd the jth destination Xij = the number of truckloads moved from the ith origin to the jth destination bj = the total number of truckloads of pulpwood accepted at the jth destination in 1963 ai = the total number of truckloads of pulpwood moved from the ith origin in 1963 7 APPENDIX II The numbered townships illustrated inside front cover are identified below: 1 Veazie 41 Perry 2 Verona 42 Robbinston 3 Castine 43 Calais 4 T9 S. D. 44 Baring Twp. 5 Whitneyville 45 Charlotte 6 Marshfield 46 Cooper 7 Machias 47 Tl9 E. D. 8 Machiasport 48 Wesley 9 Waterville 49 T26 E. D. 10 St. George 50 Crawford 11 Tremont 51 Alexander 12 Mount Desert 52 Baileyville 13 Southwest Harbor 53 Princeton 14 Bar Harbor 54 T27 E. D. 15 Lamoine 55 T43 M. D . 16 Franklin 56 T6 N. D. 17 TlO S. D. 57 T5 N . D. 18 Sullivan 58 Grand Lake Stream PIt. 19 Gouldsboro 59 Indian Twp. 20 Steuben 60 Waite 21 Cherryfield 61 Codyville PIt. 22 Harrington 62 Lambert Lake, TlR3 23 Columbia 63 Topsfield 24 Columbia Falls 64 T6R1 25 Addison 65 Kossuth 26 Jonesport 66 T8R3 27 Roque Bluffs 67 T8R4 28 Jonesboro 68 Danforth 29 Centerville 69 Weston 30 Northfield 70 Bancroft 31 East Machias 71 Reed PIt. 32 Cutler 72 Macwahoc Pit. 33 Whiting 73 Molunkus, T AR5 34 Trescott Twp. 74 TlR5 35 Lubec 75 TlR4 36 Edmunds Twp. 76 Benedicta 37 Marion Twp. 77 Silver Ridge Twp. 38 No. 14 PIt. 78 T2R4 39 Dennysvi1le 79 Glenwood Pit . 40 Pembroke 80 Haynesville 8 81 Orient 121 Maxfield 82 Amity 122 Howland 83 Forkstown, T3R2 123 Mattamiscontis, TlR7 84 T3R3 124 Enfield 85 T3R4 125 Lincoln 86 Sherman 126 Lee 87 Crystal 127 Springfield 88 Island Falls 128 Carroll PIt. 89 T4R3 129 Lakeville PIt. 90 TAR2 130 T3Rl 91 Cary PIt. 131 Burlington 92 Hodgdon 132 Lowell 93 Linneus 133 Passadumkeag 94 Dyer Brook 134 Edinburg 95 Hersey 135 Lagrange 96 Moro PIt. 136 Bradford 97 Smyrna 137 Charleston 98 Ludlow 138 Garland 99 Houlton 139 Dexter 100 Hammond PIt. 140 Corinna 101 St . Croix, T8R4 141 Exeter 102 Mt. Chase PIt. 142 Corinth 103 Patten 143 Hudson 104 Stacyville 144 Alton 105 Hersey town, T2R6 145 Argyle Twp. 106 Grindstone, TlR7 146 Greenbush 107 Millinocket 147 Summit, TIND 108 Medway 148 Grand Fall PIt. 109 Long A, T AR8, & 9 149 Greenfield 110 T3R9 150 Milford III T2R9 151 Old Town City 112 Woodville 152 Orono 113 Mattawamkeag 153 Bradley 114 Drew PIt. 154 Clifton 115 Prentiss Pit. 155 Eddington 116 Webster PIt. 156 Holden 117 Winn 157 Brewer City 118 Chester 158 Bangor City 119 T2R8 159 Glenburn 120 Seboeis PIt. 160 Kenduskeag 9 161 Levant 201 Liberty 162 Stetson 202 Waldoboro 163 Newport 203 Bristol 164 Plymouth 204 Albion 165 Dixmont 205 Clinton 166 Etna 206 Oakland 167 Carmel 207 Norridgewock 168 Newburg 208 Skowhegan 169 Hermon 209 Pittsfield 170 Orrington 210 Detroit 171 Bucksport 211 Palmyra 172 Orland 212 St. Albans 173 Dedham 213 Ripley 174 Otis 214 Cambridge 175 Ellsworth City 215 Harmony 176 Surry 216 Athens 177 Blue Hill 217 Wellington 178 Brooklin 218 Kengsbury PIt . 179 Sedgwick 219 Blanchard PIt. 180 Deer Isle 220 Shirley 181 Brooksville 221 TA2-R13 & 14 182 Penobscot 222 T3R11 183 Stockton Springs 223 TlR11 184 Searsport 224 TB Rll 185 Frankfort 225 Katahdin Iron Works 186 Winterport 226 Barnard PIt. 187 Monroe 227 Williamsburg, T6R8 188 Brooks 228 Brownville 189 Swanville 229 Lake View Pit. 190 Waldo 230 Medford Twp. 191 Belfast City 231 Milo 192 Northport 232 Orneville Twp. 193 Lincolnville 233 Atkinson 194 Montville 234 Sebec 195 Jackson 235 Dover-Foxcroft 196 Thorndike 236 Bowerbank 197 Troy 237 William an tic 198 Burnham 238 Elliottsville PIt. 199 Unity 239 Monson 200 Palermo 240 Abbot 10 241 Parkman 242 Sangerville 243 Guilford 244 T3 N. D. 245 T4 N. D. 246 T40 M. D. 247 T41 M . D . 248 T34 M. D. 249 No. 33 PIt. 250 T32 M. D. 251 Amherst 252 Aurora 253 Mariaville 254 Waltham 255 Osborn PIt. 256 Eastbrook 257 T16 M. D . 258 T22 M. D. 11 

B640: An Evaluation of the Distribution of Trucked Pulpwood in East-Central Maine

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B640: An Evaluation of the Distribution of Trucked Pulpwood in East-Central Maine

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