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of Volvo, and half way between Oslo and
Copenhagen, the Swedish Atlantic harbour
at Gothenburg is well placed to capitalise
on its position as Scandinavia's biggest
seaport.
With
2M and G6 alliance ships making direct calls,
it is well on its way to fulfill its ambition
to become the biggest and most prosperous
port in the region.
Direct
calls from Hong Kong's OOCL, part of the
G6 alliance, have been in place for some
time, but recently, 2M's Mediterranean Shipping
Company (MSC) will make direct calls starting
with the 19,000-TEU MSC Maya this month.
"We
are extremely pleased that MSC will be sailing
between Asia and Gothenburg using its largest
ships," said Magnus Karestedt, Port
of Gothenburg chief executive.
"This
means a great deal for the competitiveness
of Swedish industry as it is these vessels
that offer direct services to the Far East
and other parts of the world," said
Mr Karestedt.
Today,
Gothenburg has a balanced annual trade of
850,000 TEU, and it expects the new shipping
alliances to deliver greater volumes, which
in turn which will bring a greater proportion
of direct calls - far more than the 50 per
cent it has today.
There
is little fear that slack season cancellations
will affect that. "Cancelled sailings
will be covered with other loops when the
'normal Gothenburg loop' is cancelled,"
said Claes Sundmark, the port's vice president
for the containers, ro-ro and rail.
"All
shipping lines I have spoken to have confirmed
that all loops will be sailing with their
normal frequency, but covered by alternative
loops in some weeks," he said.
"We
and our terminal operator APM Terminals
Gothenburg have invested heavily in increased
and upgraded capacity in recent years,"
he said.
"Additional
rail capacity with two new RMG [rail mounted
gantry] cranes, two additional super-postpanamax
ship to shore cranes, upgraded terminal
areas and quays," he said.
"This
includes new handling equipment, a double
track for rail is being built to/from the
port etc. A new port entrance has also been
built with new road infrastructure.
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