Esto­nian brot­hers Harri and Mikk Lepis­tik were wor­king as forest mac­hine ope­ra­tors when their emplo­yer, Wermo AS, purc­ha­sed its first forest mac­hi­nes from Einari Vidgren in 1990. In 2002,the Lepis­tik brot­hers foun­ded their own com­pany, Dik­soo­nia, which today har­vests approxi­ma­tely 150,000 cubic met­res of tim­ber annually with eight mac­hi­nes and a team of 17 emplo­yees.

Harri, Algis, and Mar­tin Lepis­tik from the Esto­nian forest mac­hine cont­rac­tor Dik­soo­nia OÜ recently purc­ha­sed a Ponsse Bea­ver that was just two years old and had log­ged 1,674 ope­ra­ting hours from Pet­teri Mella, Regio­nal Sales Mana­ger for Sout­hern Fin­land at Ponsse.

The mac­hine had ori­gi­nally been wor­king in Swe­den, but the Lepis­tiks found it online on the Mascus mar­ketplace. Alt­hough the mac­hine was for sale through Ponsse Swe­den, it was trans­fer­red to Fin­land, where the Lepis­tiks ulti­ma­tely purc­ha­sed it.

“The lightweight har­ves­ter will mainly be used in state owned forests. Accor­ding to the cont­ract, a mac­hine wor­king in state forests can be no more than six years old, so with this one we can ope­rate until the end of the cont­ract period. The mac­hine is equip­ped with an H5 har­ves­ter head and will be used for thin­ning on soft ter­rain. We also have lar­ger mac­hi­nes, such as the Ponsse Buf­falo and Ponsse Ergo, for fir­mer ground and final fel­lings,” explains­Ha­ri­ton “Harri” Lepis­tik.

Dik­soo­nia ope­ra­tes four har­ves­ters and four forwar­ders, seven of which are Ponsse mac­hi­nes and one from anot­her manu­fac­tu­rer. Some mac­hi­nes have been purc­ha­sed new, others used. Buying used mac­hi­nes from Fin­land is att­rac­tive, as lightly used mac­hi­nes come with a war­ranty and there are also savings to be made on value added tax.

In final fel­lings, Dik­soo­nia usually ope­ra­tes lar­ger mac­hi­nes in two shifts, while older mac­hi­nes are used in single shift ope­ra­tions for thin­ning. Approxi­ma­tely 30 percent of their har­ves­ting sites are thin­nings, while 70 percent are final fel­lings.

A dozen used mac­hi­nes from Fin­land to Esto­nia

Pet­teri Mella wor­ked in Esto­nia for a couple of years in the 1990s for the forest com­pany Enso Gutzeit (now Stora Enso), where he first became acquain­ted with the Lepis­tik brot­hers. Today, in addi­tion to his Sout­hern Fin­land sales area, Mella sells used forest mac­hi­nes from Fin­land to inter­na­tio­nal cus­to­mers.

“We’ve purc­ha­sed at least 12 used mac­hi­nes from Fin­land from Pet­teri. A rela­tions­hip of trust has deve­lo­ped between us,” Lepis­tik says.

Main­te­nance ser­vices are pro­vi­ded by the Ponsse dea­ler Bal­tic Agro Mac­hi­nery in Tartu, loca­ted approxi­ma­tely 100 kilo­met­res from Diksoonia’s main base.