UECC will be transporting vehicles and other rolling cargo to and from the Central European freight hub Zeebrugge via the ports of Esbjerg and Drammen. The traffic reaches Gothenburg every week (started week 15).
North Sea Port and the Port of Gothenburg have signed an agreement to work closely together. Setting up a network of medium-sized European ports and working on energy management in the ports are central to this.
The ports have things in common: the Volvo Car factories that are located in both ports, and the daily roro ships from DFDS, sailing between Gothenburg and Ghent.
The ports want
- to strengthen their commercial interests and support the flow of goods between the two ports
- to share knowledge in the field of energy management in the port. This concerns the introduction of renewable energy sources, environmental management and sustainable port management. To this end, research into further digitization will be carried out. In this context, the ports will exchange employees in the future.
- to check whether they can jointly submit projects for European financing in the fields of sustainability, energy transition, digitization, and the European transport network.
The agreement was signed during a visit by North Sea Port to the Port of Gothenburg on Wednesday 20 April.
Some 180,000m3 of dredged material are currently being reused as filling material in the construction of the Port of Gothenburg’s next major investment. When the masses have been stabilized and solidified and further surface work have been completed, 140,000m2 of new, long-awaited terminal space, will be available in the Port of Gothenburg.
Port of Gothenburg: Recovery in RoRo and Vehicle Segments
The number of ro-ro units handled through to September was down 11% on the same period in 2019. Even though the year started off with a slump, the Q3 figure (-6%) is a tentative sign that the negative curve is levelling off.
New vehicle handling at the Port of Gothenburg fell by 19% during the first nine months. The fall in the wake of Covid-19 was mainly during Q2, with handling volumes down by almost half. Despite the recovery during Q3, year-on-year figures reveal a decline of eight per cent.
DFDS Opens New Route Between Zeebrugge and Gothenburg for Stora Enso
9 May, DFDS and Stora Enso have entered into a 5-year agreement to annually carry around 700,000 tons of paper and board products between Gothenburg and Zeebrugge.
To accommodate the volumes of the agreement, DFDS will open a route between Gothenburg, Sweden, and Zeebrugge, Belgium.
The new route will be operated by three ro-ro ferries. Two ro-ro ferries – SLINGEBORG and SCHIEBORG – will be acquired for DKK 270m. These vessels were originally designed for the route, and for this cargo. They were chartered by Stora Enso and operated by SOL Continent Line since November 2014. The ships will no longer be available to SOL Continent Line, which means that the SOL service between Gothenburg and Zeebrugge will end on 17 June, 2019. (read the SOL press release here)
DFDS will also transfer one ro-ro from DFDS’ existing route between Gothenburg and Ghent that currently deploys four freight ferries.
The new Zeebrugge-Gothenburg route is expected to begin operating mid-June, 2019.
Stora Enso has the option to extend the agreement with three year.
Intra-European Ro-Ro Traffic Continues To Grow In Port Of Gothenburg
Intra-European ro-ro traffic to and from the Port of Gothenburg comprises mainly forest products and input goods for the engineering industry. With 593,000 ro-ro units handled, 2017 saw an all-time high for this segment. The signs are that 2018 could be yet another record-breaking year with 305,000 units reported for the first six months, a rise of four per cent.
Photo: Port of Gothenburg
Container volumes rose by 3% during Q1, up from 184,000 to 188,000 TEU. The number of cars shipped rose by 20%, whilst intra-European ro-ro units and energy products increased by 5% and 3% respectively. The figures are taken from the Port of Gothenburg’s recently published Q1 volume report, which can be consulted via below link.
Photo: Port of Gothenburg
The number of ro-ro units shipped in Gothenburg during H1 totalled 291,000 (+7%), and 137,000 new cars were exported or imported (+14%). The latter is largely due to the success of Volvo.
Mainly the ro-ro trade between Sweden and Belgium is going from strength to strength. On August 17, DFDS added a 4th vessel –ARK GERMANIA– on the route to Ghent. This brings the number of DFDS departures each week to eight in both directions.
The Port of Gothenburg now has 20 calls by vessels from Belgium each week, operated by DFDS, CLdN and SOL Continent.
