Micke's
Story

From Skogabo to Dala Virkes Logistik

A short history by Mikael Skoglund.

The story begins in January 1994, when I was 23. I started a sole proprietorship and hired myself out as a driver to various companies. I kept that up until 1995, when I got my first rig of my own: a hooklift truck with a trailer. With it I drove for groundwork contractors and for firms that looked after gardens.

In January 1997 we put a timber truck on the road, hauling for Skogsåkarna. At the same time I became a co-owner there and took on staff. The hooklift truck kept running for a while before it was phased out, and in 1998 the sole proprietorship was turned into a limited company. That was the start of Skogabo Åkeri AB. The same year we got another timber truck, so two timber trucks were now running in the business.

In the autumn of 2001 I started working in the USA. In the spring of 2002 the timber trucks were phased out. I sold them and ended that partnership, got a job at Logmax and went through training in Grangärde. Then I went back to the USA and worked for them for a few months in Louisiana. The job did not turn out quite the way I had imagined, so I went home and took my first proper holiday.

In the autumn of 2002 I drove for a contractor. We stayed out during the weeks and lived in a forest cabin, right up until the spring thaw of 2003. In May that year I went to Wales and operated a harvester for a month, since things were at a standstill at home during the thaw anyway.

Back home I carried on driving for a local forestry contractor, and in the summer of 2004 the journey continued to Italy, where I drove timber trucks for a few weeks. Home again, I carried on into 2005, when I started a staffing company. I hired labourers and groundworkers, bought a wheel loader and rented an excavator, and we took on construction jobs, both hiring out staff and doing our own groundwork and civil engineering. That went on into 2006, when I wound that business down.

After that I drove for a local contractor until 2007, when storm Kyrill swept across Germany. I had a harvester and got a contract with a sawmill over there, so we packed up and went down. I ran it until the spring, until I judged that the terrain was too rough and the machine too old to last. In May a factory-new, big and mighty Eco Log was ordered, which was delivered and put into service on site in Germany during the summer.

In 2008 we came home and brought the machine to Dalarna. After a trial run for Siljans Skog during the autumn, an offer came from Mellanskog in our local area. We said yes and built up our own harvesting team.

In 2008 and 2009 Skogabo expanded considerably. We added a harvester, hauled biofuel for Mellanskog and added our own forest transport trucks.

In 2014 I sold the harvesting team, with contracts, machines and operators, to one of our subcontractors in order to focus on the truck side instead. For a period, four timber trucks were running in the business.

In 2018 the journey took me back to the USA, this time to the east coast, where I worked as a technician for a friend who imported Swedish Eco Log forestry machines. Meanwhile, Skogabo kept running at home. When an employee left in the autumn, I ended the assignment and went home to look after the business myself.

In 2021 I started Dala Virkes Logistik, initially as a company for timber purchasing and timber brokering.

By the summer of 2022 we had scaled Skogabo down to three men and one truck, while I handled the timber deals for Dala Virkes Logistik from the driver's cab.

Things were getting too quiet. In 2023 we signed our first contract with Falu Energi for wood chips, fuelwood and roundwood. That is when I stepped things up, climbed out of the truck cab and put a harvester into operation in the autumn. The business gradually kept growing and we brought in subcontractors for the forwarding.

In the autumn of 2025 we started yet another harvesting team with a harvester and a forwarder, and in February 2026 we expanded the fleet with one more harvester. Today we run two harvesting teams, and the business has been growing at full speed. Now we are taking the next step, strengthening both staff and administration so that we can keep growing.