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"We
have the facilities, we have a very good
infrastructure and there's also big investments
going on to raise capacity, new roads, trains
and so on. So we have the facilities, a
great distribution system, everything in
place - so it's very easy to set up."
Because
it has space, Gothenburg doesn't have the
problems Hong Kong has. It can spread the
containers over a larger area, making them
more accessible.
"Last
year the standard carrier operation for
the port meant we stack two or three high.
It's easy to move a container and find one,"
he said.
This
shortens dwell time in port. "With
this kind of setup, we're quite flexible
for incoming, outgoing and quick delivery
to customers. At APMT [APM Terminals] they
have managed to increase the crane productivity
and that's the main focus for them."
Mr
Sundmark dismissed the idea of containerising
at the paper mills deep in the northern
hinterland.
"Shipping
lines don't want to send their containers
up there. They want to have them - that's
what they like. It's easier to containerise
at a special facility rather than at the
paper mill. They send out hundreds of thousands
of TEUs every year."
"The
target for next year is 30 crane moves per
hour. And 30 moves an hour is quite a good,
an excellent figure. That's why we wanted
external operators to improve the productivity.
We offered big operators a chance to come
to the port and found APMT to be the best
one," said Mr Karestedt.
Looking
to future, Gothenburg is planning LNG terminals
beginning next year.
"I
also hope we have more logistics centers
around the port, good for imports in this
area with the export area for wood products
close to the port so we can handle a very
fast turnaround to improve that even more,"
said Mr Sundmark.
He
also pointed to a growing "cassette"
traffic, categorized as a type of palletised
ro-ro conveyance made up of big units that
can take up to 80 tonnes each, designed
for high volume, low value commodities.
In
a word, waste, typically wastepaper that
cannot be disposed of legally in the UK
but can be shipped to Gothenburg and turned
into fuel to generate electricity.
While
much depends on Gothenburg's ability to
sell carriers on making direct calls - raising
them from the 50 per cent level they are
today - there are other factors at play.
One is impressed with the port's ability
to profit from burdensome regulations, turning
garbage into money in one case, and perhaps
doing the same with a low-sulphur fuel mandate
in another. Thus the force of their ideas
in other areas may well gain traction and
ultimately be realised.
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