ISSUE 4 2010


ScANdINAvIA Express firms build new hubs


UPS is building a new Nordic headquarters and 8,000 sq metre distribution centre at Järfälla, north of Stockholm. The premises will open next spring and up to 350 personnel will transfer from the current Bromma facility. “We needed more space


and this is a big step for us,” says Michael Duester, country manager for the Nordics. Further reflecting the region’s importance and special character, UPS recently brought the Nordic countries back into a smaller operating unit, together with the UK and Ireland. The Nordics


were previously grouped in the Northern District with central and eastern Europe and Russia. Malmö, the integrator’s Nordic


air hub, is served daily by four B767-300s from Cologne, two of which fly on to Helsinki and two to Oslo. All fly back on the reverse routing later in the night. Additionally, a B757 flies direct from Cologne to Stockholm Arlanda. Most intra-Nordic traffic goes


by road across a network that connects Gothenburg, Oslo and Helsinki with a regional ground hub in Copenhagen, though UPS


operates a Malmö-Aarhus air service that then continues to Moscow. “We’re back from the downturn and the electronic, automotive and textile sectors are thriving again,” Duester says. The Nordic countries saw a “pretty satisfactory” 10% growth in second-quarter exports, he adds, but remain more import than export driven. Per Larsen, TNT’s operations


director for the region, says volumes grew 11% in the first nine months of 2010. Yields are still below pre-recession levels,


however, and the focus is on improving yield by 2% next year. From its European air hub in


Liège, TNT flies B737s nightly into Västeras, which replaced separate Örebro and Stockholm services, and to four other Scandinavian airports. Many of the customers who migrated from air to TNT’s road services during the downturn have switched back again, Larsen says. In the longer term, however,


TNT sees trucking – which already accounts for 70% of its overnight movements around Europe - as growing faster than air transport.


New UPS hub will give the express giant space to grow


For this reason the company is to build a new 4,000sq metre Nordic road hub in Malmö next year. Larsen says a decision on an air sub-


hub, allowing longhaul customers to bypass Liège and ship in and out of the region direct, could now be delayed to 2015.


Railwaymen to try the direct approach


Intermodal operator Van Dieren’s upgraded rail service between Nässjö in southern Sweden and Herne, Germany, now operates three times a week. Lars Lerstorp, MD of Van


Dieren Sweden, says the trains comprise 38 wagons, carrying around equal numbers of 45ft containers and truck trailers. Transit time is around 20 hours. “We use the same train set up and down – it’s crucial not to split


the train or call at intermediate points, because you would lose the timetable and the quality,” Lerstorp says. Van Dieren runs 36 services a


week in all between Sweden and continental Europe. Lerstorp says: “Historically imports have driven the round trip, with a ratio of 70:30 for many years. We import consumer products and raw materials for Swedish manufacturers while traditional export cargoes are sawn timber,


paper, pulp and steel products.” Onward connections in Europe


stretch as far as Italy and the French/Spanish border, and Van Dieren also operates a Herne- Istanbul service. In Scandinavia, the company tranships over Gothenburg to reach northern Sweden and Norway. Van Dieren announced plans last year to build a hub at Katrineholm, west of Stockholm, to connect its parent company Samskip’s shortsea services


into the ports of Varberg and Gothenburg with central and northern Sweden. Harsh weather conditions


closed Scandinavian rail yards last winter, hitting Green Cargo’s interim results, but the intermodal operator reports a big improvement in trading conditions. Green Cargo has been independent of Swedish Rail for ten years, but is still state owned and rail is about 80% of what it does.


New intermodal services began this year from Malmö to new German destinations including Krefeld and Hannover, carrying trailers six nights a week. Following an agreement with ScandFibre Logistics, Green Cargo has become the main provider of rail transport for about ten paper mills in Sweden and on to the continent. The company has also signed new contracts with tyremaker Yokohama, Tompa Beer & Spirits, logistics group


Agility and Containership. Green Cargo has opened a new


rail terminal in Umea, northern Sweden, allowing it to load and unload longer and heavier trains serving the Bothnia region. In a restructure of the business


by new CEO Mikael Stöhr, Green Cargo is selling off its trucks to allow investment in locomotives, wagons and IT solutions. “Road transport remains important, but we are increasing our use of third-party hauliers,” Stöhr says.


19


News in brief


Danish shoe retailer Shoe-D-Vision claims DB Schenker has helped it cut logistics costs by 10% and improve quality. A new Schenker sorting facility in Kolding, providing services to fashion retailers across the Nordic region, will be able to handle a million boxes of shoes per year at full capacity.


AirBridgeCargo Airlines is now operating a twice-weekly B747 freighter service from Malmö to Moscow, in response to demand from Scandinavian customers for capacity to Russia and on to ABC’s onward destinations in China, central Asia and Japan.


SAS warns of capacity deluge


Re-expansion of SAS’s longhaul passenger fleet has brought a welcome increase in cargo capacity despite the carrier’s sale of its last freighter in October 2009. A tenth A340 aircraft, deployed at the end of October, has allowed SAS to increase its Stockholm-Newark frequency from five to six a week. Copenhagen-Dubai goes from three to four services a week and the winter programme also saw increased frequencies from Copenhagen to Chicago and Bangkok. Oslo-New York begins at the end of March 2011 and a


Copenhagen-Shanghai service will resume next winter after an 11th A340 is added. Leif Rasmussen, president and CEO of SAS Cargo, is encouraged by the volume trend, especially inbound to Scandinavia. “There’s a lot of freight in the market but rates are still at record lows,” he says. “The competition is getting tougher as capacity returns to the market.” The Core SAS cost-cutting programme introduced by the


carrier in February 2009 has yielded billion-kronor savings but there are so far no buyers for its handling arm, Spirit.


The freight industry provides a vital life line for even the remotest corners of Scandinavia


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