Freight volumes in Port of Trelleborg creating opportunities for green coastal shipping

Port of Trelleborg, aiming on being the climate-smartest port in the Baltic Sea and taking lead within green development is creating opportunities for green and environmentally friendly coastal shipping when flows of goods are being transferred from road to sea road along the eastern coast. With great potential, strong development and a continued growth in volumes, Port of Trelleborg, Scandinavia’s largest RoRo port is having what it takes to ensure efficient coastal shipping.

Request for sustainable transportation
9 out of 10 goods come to Sweden by boat. During the global Covid-19 pandemic shipping has been crucial in ensuring flows of goods. When a large part of Europe closed down border crossings on land, it was of great importance that our imports as exports of goods that go by sea to and from Swedish ports could continue to function. The Port of Trelleborg has remained strong and unaffected during the ongoing pandemic and the trend for Scandinavia’s largest RoRo port is increased freight volumes.

Covid-19 pandemic accelerated growth within e-commerce. E-commerce and new ways of acquiring and consuming products will affect our flows of goods in the future. Shipping and the use of sea road will be crucial in accordance with Sweden’s national strategy for freight transports and climate policy goals. Sweden is a large country with great distances and coastal shipping posses’ a big opportunity where Port of Trelleborg has the right conditions to enable sustainable transportation.

”Sea modal” traffic
Port of Trelleborg is a hub for intermodal traffic where the combination of road, railroad and sea road is made possible to offer the most sustainable mode of transportation. The company has invested heavily in intermodal railroad where trailers are put on rail, which has been very successful, and efforts will be rewarded by an estimated 100% increase in number of trailers handled in 2020 compared to 2019.

Now the Port of Trelleborg also wants to invest in the possibility of becoming the "sea-modal" port where freight transports via trailers are transferred from road to sea. Out of the 130,000 trailers handled in 2019, approximately 30,000 are estimated to go intermodally in 2020. Should the remaining 100,000 or parts of these be shipped to the port along the eastern coast somewhere between Norrköping and Stockholm Norvik, Port of Trelleborg is convinced to create opportunities for a sustainable transportation bringing positive effects to the climate.

Where Europe meets Scandinavia
Port of Trelleborg has an unique geographical and logistical situation where sea road, road and railroad comes together, in the centre of Northern Europe, with 50 million consumers within 500 kilometres. The port is one out of five strategically important core ports in Sweden. Port of Trelleborg has four destinations, operating arrivals and departures with high frequency 24 seven. The port is an important transportation hub with the shortest way to the continent. European freight to Sweden and Scandinavia is often reaching Trelleborgs as its first stop on its journey.

- Having a large number of trailers reaching us from Rostock, Travemünde, Swinoujscie and Klaipeda every day it is giving us the vital conditions to serve a shipping company within coastal shipping on the eastern coast of Sweden in a fruitful way, says Jörgen Nilsson, CEO Port of Trelleborg.

The port is currently developing a new port area and expansion to the east. Port of Trelleborg is investing to be able to receive larger, more efficient and modern vessels with the latest environmental technology, and with 50 hectares of new land, the freight flows will be able to be handled even more efficiently.

In conjuction with the new port and a new ring road around the city, Trelleborg is planning on a new Business Center. With millions of potential customers around the corner and optimized connections to national railroad network and sea road, Business Center Trelleborg is offering great opportunities for cross-docking, intermodal transport solutions and other services within transportation, logistics and e-commerce.

Dialogue about coastal shipping
- The work is ongoing and discussions with different stakeholders are taking place and will continue during 2020. We believe we will have a complete proposal ready somewhere during Q1/Q2 2021, says Jörgen Nilsson.