On Friday, the first cruise ship of the season will berth at the Port of Gothenburg. And for the first time this year some 700 passengers will actually go ashore at Arendal in Gothenburg, albeit under strictly controlled conditions. “Even when the passengers go ashore, they will remain within the ship’s bubble,” said Martin Meriwall, Cruise Operations Manager at the Gothenburg Port Authority.
Now cruise operations in the Port of Gothenburg are restarting again after an unusually long break due to Covid-19. Compared to the pre-Covid era, the entire cruise industry has changed dramatically, revealing a stark contrast in terms of approach and ambitions.
The Skandia Gateway project is already under way and construction is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of next year 2022. The fairway needs to be deepened to 17.5 metres if the world’s largest ocean-going vessels are to be able to call at the Port of Gothenburg fully loaded. This will prove crucial if Swedish industry is to have greater access to the world in the future.
Wallenius Wilhelmsen, one of the world’s largest ro-ro carriers, is investing heavily in the Port of Gothenburg, with increased frequency and more destinations to and from the port. The move is an incisive response to increased demand from the market for vehicles as well as breakbulk and project loads.
The CinfraCap project, which is focused on finding an optimised infrastructure for transporting liquid carbon dioxide from plant to quayside, is one of the three climate-smart projects to have made it through to the final round of the IAPH 2021 Sustainability Awards.
This year a further 24 young people will be offered the opportunity to sail during the summer, and seven more will have a summer job now that the Gothenburg Port Authority is sponsoring Gårdstensbostäder’s sailing programme. The ultimate aim is to encourage more young people to develop an interest in shipping and the port.
A new digital tool will make calls at the Port of Gothenburg more time-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally smart. Berth Planner, developed by the Gothenburg Port Authority in partnership with the Finnish company Awake.AI, is due for launch after the summer. It is a unique initiative that will provide shipbrokers, pilots, and mooring personnel with the tool they have sought for years.
Freight volumes are continuing to rise at the Port of Gothenburg in the majority of segments, despite the impact Covid-19 is having on global logistics. This can be seen from the volume report for Q1 2021.
Working in partnership, companies in the Gothenburg region can achieve their climate goals more rapidly although it will require an investment running into billions. This is the conclusion reached following a prestudy of a joint infrastructure for the transport of captured and separated carbon dioxide that has just been presented by CinfraCap.
87 per cent less carbon emissions and a reduction in the transport time of almost one week. That will be the outcome following a decision by yet another forest producer in the north of Sweden to transport its products out into the world via the Port of Gothenburg and its rail network.
With the acute situation in the Suez Canal resolved, still, further delays in European ports await. Measures are now being prepared in the Port of Gothenburg that can both ensure fast transport of Scandinavian goods, and at the same time contribute to alleviating the coming congestion in major European ports.
The Port of Gothenburg is by far the largest container port in Sweden. Official figures recently published show that the port has grown even more in relation to other ports in Sweden and Europe.
