Short sea shipping instead of road transport made possible

What does it take to make more than 600 tonnes of CO2 emission vanish from the roads of Europe? The answer is: Collaboration and commitment! Greencarrier Freight Services, Green Cargo, Unifeeder, and the Port of Drammen have made it possible for Ranheim Paper & Board to move large transport volumes through Europe by using an eco-friendly short sea shipping solution instead of road transport.

Embracing local collaborations and eco-friendly transport solutions

The collaboration was presented during the Arendal Week - an annual forum where national delegates from the worlds of politics, society and industry meet each other and the general public to debate and develop policies for today and tomorrow. The theme of the event was "Everyone is talking about shifting road freight to sea and rail, but few are taking the plunge”.

In contrary to political directives, sea freight and rail freight has stagnated in favour of road transport in Norway. “Our attempt to follow up today’s road freight situation and look into more eco-friendly options such as sea and rail has been below everyone’s expectations. The problem is this type of commitment is not very big at a national level. This is why a local engagement and this new collaboration is such a good initiative”, said Arne Nævra at the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Transportation & Communications.

The new transport solution was voted for by representatives from both the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Transportation & Communications and the Norwegian Railway Infrastructure Company as well as the Norwegian Coastal Administration.

"This collaboration is an excellent example of how different parties can work together to enable more sustainable transport solutions”, said Kjell Ivar Maudal, Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Railway Infrastructure Company.

Read the full article here.