Southland is the location for June’s Iron Test, of the CDL log grapple made by 3D Industrial Engineering in Rotorua, paired with a Caterpillar Next Gen 320.
We venture about as far south as you can go, to Invercargill, to test this grapple at Neville Stirling Excavating, and find it hard at work on a macrocarpa windblown salvage operation.
It's a tough test. The macrocarpa logs are heavy, big and old, but the grapple shines through as a solid bit of New Zealand-made kit. The two-man operation has just come from a nearby woodlot as they answered the call to clean up several farms that were affected by recent serious wind storms in the area.
When really big, topped shelter belt macrocarpa trees blow down, you need tough gear, and if it can pull some wizard tricks, then even better. That's where this fixed, rotating, tilting grapple comes into its own. While CDL make a universal hanger for regular dangle grapples for logging operations, this one is a few steps further along and gives the kind of control you crave when you want to do storm clean-up quickly, safely and efficiently.
The 3D Industrial story is a classic one, starting out with humble beginnings in a shed south of Rotorua, to now having 15 staff making equipment for forestry operations nationwide.
To read more, get your copy of the June 2026 edition of NZ Logger magazine, on sale from 1 June. Check the link on this page to subscribe to either a printed or digital copy (or both).
