20


Issue 8 2020 - Freight Business Journal


///SCANDINAVIA Doing business in a cold climate


These are hardly the most propitious circumstances for opening Europe’s newest port, but Scandinavia’s excellent infrastructure will stand it in good stead when prosperity finally returns to the Nordic region.


Norvik Port opening defies the crisis


The middle of a pandemic isn’t the ideal time in which to put a brand new container terminal into operation, but that is what Ports of Stockholm and its operating partner Hutchison Ports managed to do with its new Stockholm Norvik Port. Normally, the port operator


would have flown in experts from around the world to commission the eight new straddle carriers and the two new super-post-Panamax cranes, and the myriad other handling equipment at the brand new port near Nynäshamn, about 50km south of central Stockholm. However, that wasn’t possible


for the May opening of the new facility, explains Ports of Stockholm marketing and sales manager, Johan Wallén. ”We had to do everything remotely, but the online meeting technology we used was very impressive, as were the Hutchison teams from around the world. It was a real challenge, but I’m happy to say that everything worked well.” Sweden’s measures against


the corona virus have been less draconian than in most of the rest of Europe, and haven’t affected Ports of Stockholm’s daily operations too much, Wallén continues. Where possible, staff work from home and for those who cannot, such as stevedores or crane drivers, people are split into separate teams and communal coffee and lunch breaks are banned. The measures appear to have


been successful - to such an extent that the workforce has had fewer sick days than is normal at this time of year. There has been some fall-off in


cargo volumes, around 6% overall with imports down by around 10%, and there has been a shiſt away from the central Stockholm port to outlying locations such as Port of Kapellskär or the new Stockholm Norvik terminal, mainly because many of the ro-pax ferry services that used to call in Stockholm have been cancelled or curtailed in the face of the pandemic. Stockholm in normal times


owned Ports of Stockholm’s finances. A return to profit isn’t envisaged until 2022, says Wallén; normally, the Ports make a positive contribution to local government finances. Municipal ownership of ports


is quite common in Sweden, although Hutchison operates the container terminal, and indeed ran the one in the old city centre


the Baltic trades and indeed major customer MSC has already taken the opportunity to introduce larger ships of around 1,700teu to its feeder service to Stockholm, vessels which could never have fitted into the old city centre terminal with its 7 metre draſt. It also offers much shorter


steaming times up the ford than the old port – 15 minutes as against


would be one of the busiest passenger ports in the world, but this traffic has slumped from around 12 million a year to around 3 million. Ports of Stockholm halved its


port dues in the early stage of the pandemic and this, together with the reduction is passengers, has created a hole in local authority-


port before it was superseded. ((CROSSHEAD))Bigger boxships Stockholm Norvik Port will


allow Ports of Stockholm to handle much bigger containerships. It has a natural draſt of 16.5 metres, which is actually deeper than Gothenburg, Sweden’s traditional deepsea gateway. It will easily handle the largest ships seen in


four hours. The Stockholm region is


Sweden’s main economic powerhouse with around 45% of GDP and Ports of Stockholm thus handles a major proportion of the country’s imports. Developing a major deepsea hub at Norvik will allow the regions imports to move by sea for as a great a distance as possible. However, it could also allow


Ports of Stockholm to play a much bigger part in Swedish exports, points out Wallén. There are around 4km of new rail tracks connecting the new hub to the national rail system and this could allow containers that have carried imports into the region to be restuffed with export traffic. Clearly, this would be much more feasible in Stockholm Norvik Port with its out-of-town location than in a city centre port. Cutting emissions is very much


on Ports of Stockholm’s mind and there is also a scheme to develop a low-emissions local cargo shipping network for the greater Stockholm region, most of which lies on the many lakes and rivers, with a high frequency service of small cargo vessels to take trucks off the road. Conveniently, there is


a liquefied natural gas bunkering terminal adjacent


to Stockholm


Norvik Port which already serves a local ferry operation. The old city centre container


terminal has now been closed, although it will continue to handle some of the more passenger- orientated ferry services and, when they resume, cruise liners. However, much of the land will be handed back to the city authorities for offices, housing and other waterfront development. The next stage of the port


of Stockholm Norvik Ports development was the opening of a new ro ro terminal, with a capacity of around 300,000 freight units a year, officially opened on 9 November by the Stena Flavia. While some ro ro traffic might


divert from the city centre to the new Stockholm Norvik terminal, Ports of Stockholm’s Kapellskär facility about 80km north east of Stockholm already caters very adequately for much of the existing freight business. Wallén is though keen to attract new services to, for example, Hamburg or the Benelux ports, or eastern Europe, and these would be ideal for Norvik.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36