Göteborg – the largest public port in Scandinavia. PHOTOS: PÄR-HENRIK SJÖSTRÖM

Sweden: Maritime transport – a winner in a new policy?

In July, a committee filed a report that if embraced by the Swedish government could lead to significant changes in Swedish transport policy and improved competitiveness for maritime transport. The Swedish government has announced that a proposal for an overall transport policy will be adopted in 2005.

On 1 July, Bengt-Owe Birgersson, chairman of the committee Godstransportdelegationen (“the delegation for cargo transportation”) handed over a final report to the Swedish government. The committee, appointed by the government, consisted of experts from the shippers, the transport industry and state agencies and their task were to find solutions for a sustainable and environmentally and economically sensible system for cargo transports in, to and from Sweden that also safe-guards the competitiveness of Swedish industry.
In the inquiry instructions, the government stressed that the committee should have an overall view and focus on intermodality.

The commission compares the responsibility each transport mode has for the costs it cause society. A study shows that the level of internalisation varies significantly between the different modes. A comparison of how much taxes and dues a transport mode pays in relation to the marginal cost for the society shows 0.24 for railway cargo transport, 0.60 for road haulage and 0.96 for maritime transport, where 1.0 is full cost coverage.

The committee propose that maritime transport is relieved from costs for ice-breaking and costs for infrastructure mostly used by the pleasure sector and smaller coastal shipping operations which hardly has any connections to merchant shipping. This would reduce the cost burden by SEK 250–300 million (EUR 27.6–33.1 million) per year. According to the committee, users should bear the full costs for pilot services, which is not the case today, but the service must become more cost-effective by the use of new technology. The committee also propose a new fairway due system based on net tonnage instead of gross tonnage.

	Port of Sundsvall, Sweden.

At the same time, the committee wants to increase taxes and dues for the other modes of transport. Road transport should be subject to a kilometre based tax system and the railway should pay for the noise disturbance it creates.
There are about 50 public ports in Sweden. The eleven largest handles almost 80 per cent of the total cargo volume measured in tons. 24 meet the criteria as TEN A category ports.

Sweden lacks a national port policy, and decisions on investments are left to the ports, of which almost all are municipality owned. Many ports are operated by a limited company owned either entirely by the municipality or in a partnership with local industry interests.

The committee points out three strategically important port regions; one on the West Coast including Göteborg, Uddevalla and Varberg, one in the South comprising of the ports of Helsingborg, Malmö, Trelleborg and Ystad and one on the East Coast from Norrköping in the South to Gävle in the North including the ports in Lake Mälaren. Also the ports in the South-east are highlighted as ports with growth potential based on the expanded trade to the new EU member states in the East. The government should encourage a discussion between interested parties on co-operation between ports and specialisation of ports within those regions. The commission suggest that this should form a base for national decisions on land infrastructure investments.

In 2003, Swedish ports handled 161.5 million tons, up by 6.9 million tons compared to the year before. Import/export represents about 85 per cent. More than half of the domestic sea-borne cargo traffic consists of petroleum products.

30 million passengers travelled to and from Sweden on ferries in 2003. This is a slight increase compared to 2002, but far from the numbers recorded before tax-free was abolished and the fixed link between Sweden and Denmark was opened in 2000. 38 million passengers travelled on the international ferry routes in 1999. The year after, the number decreased to 34 million, and in 2001 the passenger number had decreased by an additional four million.

The West Coast
The Port of Göteborg, Sweden’s and Scandinavia’s largest public port, handled 32.3 million tons of cargo in 2003, or about the same as the year before. The container traffic had a turnover of 666,000 TEU. Part-year numbers show however a significant growth during 2004. Container traffic increased by ten per cent during the first nine months to 544,000 TEU, compared to the same period last year. Crude oil and oil products were up by 19 per cent and total cargo volumes increased by 13 per cent. The extensive work to deepen and realign the access channels and port entrance is all but finished. Before the end of the year the Board of the Port of Göteborg will decide on the purchase of two or three new super-post-panamax ship-to-shore gantry cranes which could be in operation in the Skandia harbour by 2006.

The refinery port of Brofjorden is the largest oil terminal in Sweden and last year the cargo volume almost reached 20 million tons. Uddevalla has become a hub for forest product shipments from Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Baltic States to USA and the traffic has now passed the 500,000 cubic metre mark. The port of Wallhamn on the isle of Tjörn is specialised on import/export of cars. A letter of intent has been signed with Grimaldi Lines and Eukor Car Carriers where the two liner companies intends to take over port operations for two years initially.

Terminal West, the port operator in Varberg continues to expand and the enlargement of the Fare terminal from 90,000 to 140,000 square metres has been brought forward. The Port of Halmstad handled 1.9 million tons of cargo last year, on par with the year before. The municipality-owned port company has set aside SEK 123 million (EUR 13.6 million) to invest in new storage facilities, improvements in the container terminal and expansion of the Ocean Dock.

	“Lycaste Peace”, the largest LPG-tanker ever to call at Karlshamn.

South Sweden
More than 60 per cent of the about eight million tons of cargo handled by port of Helsingborg in 2003 arrived or departed by ferry, but liner shipping is expanding since MSC started weekly sailings connecting Helsingborg with Antwerp and ports in the Baltic Sea. Helsingborg is an important passenger port with about 11.7 million passengers 2003, making it one of the largest ferry ports in the world. Also cruise has become an increasingly important business for the port with 20 cruise calls this summer.

Around 30 shipping lines calls at the port of Malmö on a regular basis. The Malmö part of CMP, Copenhagen Malmö Port, handled 7.2 million tons of cargo last year, making it the fifth largest port in Sweden. The port is planning a major expansion and has the potential to fill out an area of five million square metres. 2003 was a record year for the port of Trelleborg. Cargo turnover reached 10.7 million tons, an all-time-high. The port is now planning its “Vision 2005” project, including a new intermodal terminal, a freight hub centre for third party logistic activities, new railway ferry berths and new ramp systems.

Also Ystad is experiencing increased volumes, cargoes by 15 per cent and passengers by ten per cent the first seven months of 2004. Two new ferries will be introduced on the services to Poland, one before the end of 2004 and one in the beginning of next year.

2003 was a record year also for Karlshamn. Cargo turnover increased by ten per cent to 5.1 million tons. The largest increase was in ro-ro services, showing a growth by 31 per cent. The port is planning an expansion of the ro-ro terminal area to cater for the increase in traffic. For a period of at least five years, Karlshamn will also be the domicile for the Estonian State strategic oil reserve, a task Scandinavian Tank Storage and Karlshamn won in competition with eleven other oil storage companies and oil terminals in Europe.

The Stena Line service between Karlskrona and Gdynia is expanding rapidly. A new larger ferry was put into service earlier this year and recently the company decided to invest heavily in a conversion of the second ferry to increase cargo capacity. As a result, a new fixed ramp system will be built in Karlskrona.

The East Coast
936 vessels called at the port of Oxelösund in 2003. Cargo volumes, mainly dry bulk, grew by 7 per cent to 5.1 million tons.

	Port of Norrköping, Sweden.

In the late 1990’s, the Port of Norrköping invested heavily in new infrastructure and activities. Norrköping has been pointed out as a strategic intermodal hub of national interest and a study comprising four projects has been presented to further develop the land-based as well as the maritime infrastructure. One of the projects aims at improving the entrance to the port by a wider and deeper fairway. In 2003, Norrköping handled 4.1 million tons of cargo, up by four per cent compared to 2002.

Cargo turnover in the Ports of Stockholm grew by about six per cent to 8.3 million tons in 2003. Passenger and cargo traffic in the ferry ports of Kapellskär and Nynäshamn has grown significantly during the last couple of years thanks to new international ferry connections and new ferries on the domestic service to Gotland. In Kapellskär, the number of passengers has almost tripled to 1.5 million since 2000, and two of four ferry berths will be rebuilt to cater for large, modern ferries. Stockholm is Sweden’s largest cruise port. This year, the port reports a record number of passengers, 210,000 compared to 202,000 in 2003, although the number of calls stopped at 206, eight lower than in 2002. For the next season, the port has already booked 212 calls, but hopes for 225.

	Port of Umeå, Sweden.

The port of Gävle has launched a major investment and expansion programme. A new container terminal will be operational by 2006. The SEK 260 million (EUR 28.7 million) investment includes a new 300 metre long quay and an integrated container park operated by two gantry cranes. The government invests SEK 55 million (EUR 6.1 million) in new road connections, and has also decided to appoint a state negotiator who, together with representatives from the port, the municipality, the industry and the maritime administration, will present a development program for the port, which could include a wider fairway.

The port of Luleå is the fourth largest in Sweden, measured in handled tons. Last year the port had a turnover of 7.6 million tons, of which 2/3 were loaded. The main commodity is iron ore.

Inland ports
Vänerhamn operates all ports around Lake Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake. For many years, there has been a negative trend in the amount of cargo carried by sea to and from the ports surrounding the lake. Last year saw however an improvement by six per cent to 2.6 million tons.

A positive trend was also noted in Sweden’s next largest lake, Mälaren, where Mälarhamnar AB operates the ports in Västerås and Köping. Last year, the two ports had a combined cargo turnover of 3.8 million tons, up by 0.6 million tons compared to the year before.

//Rolf P Nilsson