Benchmarking Mechanized Forest Harvesting: A Global Systematic Review of Productivity and Cost for Sustainable Forest Management Decision-Making

This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesizes empirical evidence from 119 peer-reviewed studies (identified from 400 database records, 2014–2025) reporting time-and-motion study data for mechanized logging worldwide. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, methodological rigor was ensured through a seven-domain risk-of-bias assessment adapted from Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies - of Interventions (ROBINS-I) and the application of random-effects meta-regression. Synthesis of the studies reveals that fully mechanized cut-to-length (CTL) harvesters achieve mean productive machine hour (PMH) productivities of 14.2–28.1 cubic meters per hour (m3/PMH), while extraction productivities for forwarders (10.4–21.7 m3/PMH) and skidders (7.3–19.8 m3/PMH) are primarily moderated by distance, terrain slope, and payload utilization.