APM Terminal (APMT) in Gothenburg has reported its highest quarterly volume of containers ever, despite many shipping lines reporting declines.
The biggest impact on volumes in Sweden are decreasing imports, as a consequence of inflation, a weak krona and more restrained household consumption, according to APMT.
At the same time, exports are booming, especially of timber products and from basic industries, where efficient and environmentally friendly logistics solutions are high up on export companies’ wish lists. This development reportedly makes APMT Gothenburg an attractive choice for export companies, and this is reflected in container volumes.
Brian Bitsch, Commercial Manager at APMT Gothenburg, said: “APM Terminals Gothenburg is one of just a few ports in the world that has increased volumes over the course of the year. In the third quarter, we achieved the highest turnover of TEU in the port’s history.”
READ: APMT Gothenburg rail volumes set new record
Smart rail solutions have also been of huge benefit to APMT Gothenburg. Roger Bergman, Marketing Director at Stevenvall Trä, said: “Railways offer real security and reliability. Climate calculations show that the train also saves an incredible 83 per cent in climate emissions, which supports our vision of building a fossil-free society.”
Lisa Bengtsson, Ocean Freight Director at GEODIS, added: “Thanks to the good opportunities for transporting goods by rail between APM Terminals Gothenburg and virtually the whole country, we’ve also been able to change a lot of goods from road to rail.
“The rapid turnover of trains is also a decisive factor for us to be able to use the train to such a large extent.”
According to Martin Karlsson, Operational Manager at APMT Gothenburg, truck turn times and vessel port stays are high on the list of priorities.
“Despite unusually high volumes, we’ve maintained an average handling time for trucks of less than 30 minutes and serviced all vessels and trains on time,” said Karlsson.
“In addition, we’ve been able to meet the need for extra services, which has resulted in a weekly record of 15 ship calls.”
More recently, the Port of Gothenburg announced that an infrastructure project to rebuild and upgrade a 300-metre-long dock to 2.0 will begin next year.
