The New Zealand forest industry has seen a significant change in yarder types and the rigging configurations used over the last six years since the last surveys were carried out in 2011/12. The results of the latest survey in 2018 show a total of 318 yarders currently operating in New Zealand, suggesting an increase of approximately 4% since 2012. There has been a shift towards more swing yarders, from 30% of the total in 2012 to 36% now, and a reduction in the proportion of tower yarders from 67% to 57%. The yarder brands of Madill and Thunderbird still make up over two thirds of the total number of yarders, with the Madill 124 swing yarder now the most common model, with 32 machines (10% of total). A significant change has been recorded in preferred rigging configuration, with 50% now reporting the use of mechanical or motorised grapples, compared to North Bend and running skyline being the most preferred configurations in 2011. The increase in the number of yarders is driven by the increase in both harvest volume and proportion of steep country operations in New Zealand. The major move to grapple extraction is consistent with the overall increase in mechanisation over the last 5 years or so, as a result of the drive to improve safety of operations.