Irrespective of whether the material was chipped in the stand and extracted to the landing, or chipped at landing, the storage of chips at roadside landing is normally a short term process but with numerous implications. As a result of the chipping and/or extracting process, the material can either be stored on the ground or in some form of bin container.

• Chips stored on the ground

The benefits of storing chips temporarily on the ground are that there is no direct coupling with transport and that there is a large space/volume capacity. This option is good for high performing chipping production systems with transport constraints. The immediate disadvantages of chipping onto the ground are that the loading of chips requires specialized equipment or additional machinery and that some of the volume must be forfeited in ensuring that chips contaminated with soil and stones are left in situ. It is therefore not a suitable method when harvesting biomass from small, dispersed stands.

• Chips stored in containers

The chips that have either been extracted from the stand and transloaded into a container or they have been chipped directly into a container at the landing. In the first instance, the availability of containers has to match the performance of the production system or a very high ‘interference’ penalty will be paid (Talbot and Suadicani 2005). Irrespective of production system, the assumption underlying this storage method is that transport is imminent. Chipping into containers with buffer capacity requires a lower performance (i. e., cheaper) chipper. Full containers left for a weekend for example, should be covered or fitted with sufficient drainage if there is a possibility of rain.