1

Fig. 1. Study area around the city of Jyväskylä (Scenarios 1 & 2) and around the satellite terminal of Kontiomäki (Scenario 3).

Table 1. Main and sub-scenarios used in the study. Past (max. 60 tonnes) and current (max. 64 tonnes) road transport dimensions for traditional and container supply chains were compared. Additional sub-scenarios for current dimensions treat alternative numbers of trucks and wagons. Main scenarios: Sce. 1 = current use, Sce. 2 = additional use (by truck), and Sce. 3 = additional use (by train).
Sub-scenarios Main scenarios 
Sce. 1 Sce. 2 Sce. 3
Traditional      
Past dimensions 1.1.1 2.1.1 3.1.1
Current dimensions 1.1.2 2.1.2 3.1.2
a. Sub-scenario 1.1.3 2.1.2 3.1.3
b. Sub-scenario     3.1.4
Container      
Past dimensions 1.2.1 2.2.1 3.2.1
Current dimensions 1.2.2 2.2.2 3.2.2
a. Sub-scenario 1.2.3 2.2.3 3.2.3
b. Sub-scenario     3.2.4
2

Fig. 2. Process description of material flows and handling operations of the supply chains studied.

Table 2. Target demand of case power plant for forest chips (GWh). Sce. 1 = current use, Sce. 2 = additional use (by truck), and Sce. 3 = additional use (by train).
  Biomass demand, GWh
Sce. 1 Sce. 2 Sce. 3
Base demand of Sce. 1 - 540 540
Logging residues 300 80 100
Small-diameter trees 240 120 100
Total 540 740 740
3

Fig. 3. Description of availability analysis for forest biomass in a competitive market (Korpinen et al. 2012).

Table 3. Used purchase price and annual costs of machines and vehicles used in the simulation model. Prices and costs are presented without Value Added Tax (VAT, 0%).
Cost element Purchased
price, € 		Annual fixed
cost, €/a 		Variable cost, €/unit
Truck transport (Sce. 1, 2 and 3)
Roadside chipper 450 000 285 000 3 €/tn
Container truck 270 000 83 000 0.012 €/tnkm
Unloading machine 85 000 57 519 11.07 €/container
Solid-frame truck 265 000 86 000 0.012 €/tnkm
Railway transport (Sce. 3)
Locomotive and wagons 2 200 000 319 039  
Intermodal composite container 15 000 5400 0.016 €/tnkm
Metal container 8390 3036 0.013 €/tnkm
Front-loader 205 000 154 202 -
Forklift loader 250 000 179 023 -
Unloading machine 85 000 57 519 11.07 €/container
4

Fig. 4. Payload of forest chips (tonnes) for traditional trucks and container trucks based on past and current dimensions and the moisture content of forest chips.

Table 4. Railway transportation cost structure components (%-share) as an example for intermodal composite and interchangeable metal containers.
%-share Cost component Metal containers Intermodal composite containers
Fixed costs Locomotive and wagons 15 11
Rail infra 13 9
Containers 16 36
Variable cost Operational cost (363 km) 40 33
Gross tonne cost 10 7
Maintenance 5 4
Total cost   100 a) 100 a)
a) Total annual cost of railway transportation (180 trips and 20 wagons) was 1 136 000 € for metal containers and 1 586 000 € for intermodal composite containers.
Table 5. Average efficiency (minutes/unit) of loading and unloading (Sce. 1, 2 and 3).
Transport option Efficiency, minutes/unit
Loading (min–max) Unloading (min–max)
Truck transport
Traditional truck
Sce. 1 and 2 50–80/truck 25–35/truck
Sce. 3 (terminals) 50–80/truck 25–35/truck
Container truck
Sce. 1 and 2 50–80/truck 8–10/container
Sce. 3 (terminals) 50–80/truck 4–6/container
Railway transport
Intermodal composite container 1–3/container 5–7/container
Metal container 2–3/container 5–7/container
5

Fig. 5. Stationary unloading machine with forklift loader to transfer composite containers from a train (Fibrocom Ltd., Supercont®).

6

Fig. 6. State chart for the truck agents.

7

Fig. 7. Simulation process description consisting of input (supply and demand) and output (time usage and unit cost) data for chosen scenarios.

8

Fig. 8. Screen shot from the display of the simulation model used in the study.

Table 6. Roadside cost of logging residues and small-sized trees used in this study
(€/MWh).
Cost (€/MWh) Overhead
cost 		Stumpage
price 		Logging
cost 		Forwarding
cost 		Total
roadside cost
Logging residues 0.5 0.5 0.2 2.9 4.1
Small-diameter trees 1.0 3.0 9.1 2.7 15.8
Table 7. Number of trucks used to fulfil the demand target of the scenarios in the simulation model.
Number of trucks and wagons in the demand target of the scenarios Sce. 1
(trucks) 		Sce. 2
(trucks) 		Sce. 3
(trucks) 		(wagons)
Traditional truck        
Past dimensions 10 18 14 20
Current dimensions 8 14 12 20
a. Sub-scenario 10 16 12 15
b. Sub-scenario     14 15
Container truck        
Past dimensions 8 12 12 20
Current dimensions 6 10 10 20
a. Sub-scenario 8 12 12 20
b. Sub-scenario     12 15
9

Fig. 9. Unit cost of forest chips (€/MWh) transported by traditional supply chain and container supply chain (past and current dimension). Combined system includes both truck and railway supply chains. Scenarios are presented in Table 1.

10

Fig. 10. Unit cost of forest chips (€/MWh) transported by traditional supply chain and container supply chain as calculated separately for the truck and railway supply chain (past and current dimension). Main terminal (around power plant) = mt; satellite terminal (around railway terminal) = st. Scenarios are presented in Table 1.

Table 8. Simulated delivery and cost results of traditional and container supply chains for forest chips based on current dimension scenarios. Target demand results (200, 540 and 740 GWh/a) are also included. Scenarios are presented in Table 1.
Scenarios Delivery Cost
Main scenarios Sub-scenarios Total, GWh/a Railway, GWh/a milj. €/a €/MWh
Traditional
Sce. 1   540   8.7 16.2
1.1.2 537   8.6 16.1
1.1.3 637   10.4 16.4
Sce. 2   740   13.6 18.3
2.1.2 730   13.3 18.2
2.1.3 787   14.7 18.6
Sce. 3   740   13.8 18.7
    200 (4.7) (23.3)
3.1.2 721   13.0 18.0
    237 (4.8) (20.2)
3.1.3 661   13.2 20.0
    178 (4.7) (26.5)
3.1.4 757   13.8 18.2
    178 (4.4) (24.8)
Container
Sce. 1   540   8.3 15.4
1.2.2 482   7.4 15.3
1.2.3 638   9.7 15.3
Sce. 2   740   11.9 16.1
2.2.2 709   11.6 16.3
2.2.3 834   13.7 16.4
Sce. 3   740   12.4 16.7
    200 (4.4) (22.2)
3.2.2 654   11.1 16.9
    226 (4.6) (20.3)
3.2.3 788   13.0 16.5
    226 (4.7) (20.8)
3.2.4 725   12.6 17.4
    170 (4.4) (25.8)
11

Fig. 11. Total cost (€, million) of traditional and container supply chains by trucks for forest chips (current dimensions).

12

Fig. 12. Total cost (€, million) of traditional multimodal and container intermodal railway supply chains for forest chips (current dimensions).

13

Fig. 13. Unit cost (€/MWh) of traditional and container supply chains by trucks for forest chips (current dimensions).

14

Fig. 14. Unit cost (€/MWh) of traditional multimodal and container intermodal railway supply chains for forest chips (current dimensions).

15

Fig. 15. Unit cost (€/MWh) of traditional and container supply chain scenarios for truck transportation (Sce. 1 & Sce. 2) and multimodal transportation (Sce. 3) for forest chips (current dimensions). The delivery amount of forest chips by trucks was kept constant (500 GWh) for multimodal supply chains (Sce. 3).

16

Fig. 16. Cost result (€/MWh) of simulation for truck transportation, chipping and the unloading machine in alternative scenarios (past and current dimension). Scenarios are presented in Table 1.

17

Fig. 17. Annual time usage of trucks in the scenarios (past dimension). Scenarios are presented in Table 1.

Table 9. Average driving distances (in parentheses: maximum driving distance) by the trucks based on availability analysis for the target demand scenarios.
Distance, km Sce. 1 Sce. 2 Sce. 3
Logging residues 61 (92) 69 (103) 59 (88)
Small-diameter energy wood 81 (121) 96 (144) 71 (106)
Average 71 (107) 83 (124) 65 (98)