Post: Bell TF302E Ticks All The Boxes For Welverdiend Forestry

June 25, 2026

Bell TF302E Ticks All The Boxes For Welverdiend Forestry

For a short-haul timber contractor to be competitive, it is advantageous to have a dual-purpose vehicle that can load and unload itself both in the field and at roadside depots, with the ability to drive on public roads an added advantage.

This is the opinion of a surprisingly young man, who, although a recent entrant into the competitive world of forestry contracting, has learnt so much of the sound basics of forestry contracting from his experienced father.

Jaco Potgieter founded his company, Welverdiend Forestry (Pty) Ltd, in 1998 in eMkhondo, formerly Piet Retief, after having gained experience in forestry contracting before. His son, JC, joined the business in 2020 straight from school and told us more.

“My dad started off on a small-scale doing harvesting in pine and gum before focusing more on gum nearer to eMkhondo,” he says. “He employed manual harvesting methods but loaded the timber using Bell Loggers and in 2003/2004 he assisted Bell Equipment with the research and development of a debarker based on a Bell three-wheeled machine.”

Jaco subsequently bought four of these machines for his own use. In later years, on the insistence of his clients, who are large-scale growers producing paper and pulp, harvesting methods became more mechanised due to safety concerns and tracked carriers were fitted with harvesting and processing heads.

Welverdiend Forestry now works out of two bases, one near eMkhondo and the other at Rooihoogte near Carolina.

“With these new contracts in place, we soon realised we’d need a multi-purpose vehicle that could work infield, where driving over stumps can be challenging, and run on gravel roads over longer distances. Such a vehicle was not easy to find until we came across the features of the Bell TF302E Forwarder as given to us by Bell Equipment’s knowledgeable Sales Representative, Daniel van Huyssteen.”

JC mentions that they had built up a good reputation with their large-grower clients as operators with an exceptional safety record and were keen to continue that trend, which is important from a reputational view and the very real safety of people.

“Bell Equipment’s safety systems are world-class with ROPS-FOPS certified cabs and automatic transmissions and park brakes. The latter is a massive advantage when working in steep areas,” JC enthuses. “Added to this is the Waratah CF8 crane, which is much more powerful than those on competitor vehicles, and this makes for sure and safe operations when loading and unloading timber.”

With firm orders from clients in place, Welverdiend Forestry ordered their first Bell TF302E Forwarder in May 2024 and it was delivered at the end of July the same year.

“We have three operators for our Bell TF302E Forwarder, and it took them a little while to get used to the fast crane, which is due to the excellent hydraulic flows the machine delivers,” JC says. “After 11 months it had clocked an impressive 4 500 hours, which shows how well it has slotted into this operation.

“Mixed with flat and hilly areas, we bank on an average payload of between 16 and 18 tonnes totalling 8 500 tonnes per month and average fuel consumption of 15 to 16 litres an hour, which fits our business plan perfectly.”

JC adds that with long-term contracts in the offing, their plan is to deploy more similar Bell TF302E Forwarders. “A longer-term contract makes it feasible to plan for capital expenditure on equipment, and we would always like to have a new machine, a mid-life machine and an older machine available, as this makes for sustainable replacement planning.

“We’re getting excellent service from Bell Equipment’s branch in eMkhondo with quick response times and parts availability, and this is reassuring given our plans to increase the size of our Bell Forwarder fleet.”

Source: Bell Forest and Agriculture