When Simphiwe Magubane submitted his application and motivation at the last minute for an internship that would include tertiary education at a forestry college, little could he have known how his concerted effort would change his life for the better.

Simphiwe hails from a small village called eMakhwabe between Vryheid and Paulpietersburg in Northern KwaZulu-Natal. When he matriculated at the Mantshinga Combined School in Paulpietersburg in 2007, there was no money for him to continue his education. He worked for a while as an intern with a large timber-growing and paper and pulp company. The same company would later sponsor his tertiary education in forestry.

"I was fortunate enough to gain a bursary to study forestry at Saasveld, and having worked in the field for almost a year before getting there, I had a far better understanding of many forestry methods and operations before studying," he says. "When I qualified after three years, I started working back with my sponsoring company, which added to my experience."

Simphiwe began as a forester-in-training, and with hard and diligent work, he was soon promoted to Forester and given a permanent appointment.

"I literally started at the bottom of the tree-growing value chain with seed to seedlings in the tree nursery and learnt a lot about silviculture practices. This is basically planting, maintaining, and protecting the compartments for about nine years, depending on where you are located and the targeted product," he says.

"After four years, I was moved into harvesting as a harvesting forester and was promoted to harvesting manager in 2017. While I so enjoyed all aspects of the learning experience, it was during this stint in harvesting that the idea of being self-employed in some branch of the value chain started taking shape in my mind."

In April 2021, Simphiwe registered his own company, Goobs Forestry (Pty) Ltd, which is derived from his surname, Magubane.

"I am grateful for the mentoring that I received from Hendrik Steenekamp, who is an established and well-respected contractor in the Piet Retief area, when he invited me to work with him on an extraction contract for a timber-growing company," Simphiwe adds. "I learnt a lot about the business side of contracts from Hendrik."

Then a contract was advertised to load rail trucks at a railway siding in Paulpietersburg, from where the timber is railed to a large pulp and paper mill in Richards Bay. Simphiwe tendered successfully and with a solid five-year contract in hand, he could approach financial institutions for financing to buy timber handling equipment.

A business consulting agent assisted Simphiwe by using selected business tools and providing training interventions and coaching to improve his business position and ultimately maintain a leading edge in the forestry industry. "They want you to succeed and offer financial assistance and advice all along the way, which is really commendable and greatly appreciated," he says.

"It was about then that I met Daniel van Huyssteen, Bell Equipment's experienced Sales Representative, and himself a qualified forester. His advice has been so valuable. We started with 22 people and three rented Bell Loggers and, in time, I obtained finance to buy the equipment that Daniel had suggested – a new Kobelco SK220XD-10 Excavator fitted with a Bell 800 timber grab and a used Bell 225F Logger with low hours."

As the Kobelco Excavator would be running mainly on concrete, rubber pads from a third-party supplier were fitted to the metal tracks to save both the tracks and the concrete from damage. The machines were delivered in November 2022 and put straight to work on the rail siding on the outskirts of Paulpietersburg.

"The contract had initially called for the use of two excavators, but as the rail service wasn't consistent up to that point, and the volumes we were loading were not at full capacity, I held back on acquiring a second Kobelco SK220XD-10 Excavator until the rail service and volumes were more settled," Simphiwe explains. "Towards the end of September 2023, this was the case, and I ordered another Kobelco SK220XD-10 Excavator from Bell Equipment."

Simphiwe explains how the three lines of rail trucks work. One line contains 19 trucks, another 18, and a third eight trucks. The two Kobelco Excavators load the longer lines of trucks, and the Bell Logger loads the short line of eight trucks.

"As much as we admire the agility of the Bell Logger, the Kobelco SK220XD-10 Excavators with the larger Bell 800 timber grabs perform well in this application and outperform the smaller Logger with much less operator fatigue," comments Simphiwe.

The Kobelcos easily load around 75 tons of timber per hour, while the Bell Logger, which is smaller, reaches 37 tons, which is still impressive considering its size. Also, these will differ significantly depending on where you are on the value chain."

"The use of the Kobelco Excavators has made a difference to this loading operation with a huge saving on fuel consumption, which sees neither we nor our clients complaining," Simphiwe says. "The use of the Kobelco Excavators ensures productivity and helps us meet our client's key performance indicators." Simphiwe is also full of praise for the service he has received from the Bell Equipment branch in Mkhondo. He says the Mechanic, Stefan, and the Parts Specialist, Qiniso, have made his life easier with solid maintenance and the correct parts and service kits.