The present work deals with the comparative study of three methodologies used for calculating the operational cost of forest transport vehicles such as: FAO - North America; FAO/ECE/KWF e Battistella /Scânia. For this the, Bitrem truck was considered as it is one of the most used for forest load transport in Brazil. The two first methods had the operational cost calculated per effective hour of work (eh), and the latter had the cost calculated per kilometer (km). Thus, for this method, a factor to convert kilometer cost to cost per effective hours of work (eh) was used. The operational cost, for FAO - North America and FAO/ECE/KWF, was obtained by the sum of the following costs: machine (fixed and variable costs); administrative (administration cost) and worker (workmanship hand cost). For the Battistella/Scânia method, the operacional cost was obtained by the sum of machine and administrative costs. The FAO method - North America was the most expressive in terms of operational cost (USS 50,47/he). This method was the most indicated for the case in study, due mainly to the large approximation in relation to the real cost. The machine costs represented more than 85% of the total cost in all methodologies, with the variable cost standing out, due the high fuel cost. The operational costs presented distinct values, probably due to the fact that these methods present different formulas for the same cost.
Operational cost; effective hour of work; Bitrem Truck
