Rail fright continues to increase in the port of Gothenburg
During the past year, rail-borne container volumes to and from the Port of Gothenburg rose by 13 per cent. During 2019, volumes have continued to increase – through April by 18 per cent. The explanations include improvements in the port's infrastructure.
During the past year, rail-borne container volumes to and from the Port of Gothenburg rose by 13 per cent. During 2019, volumes have continued to increase – through April by 18 per cent. The explanations include improvements in the port's infrastructure.
Several interrelated factors explain the increase in rail-borne goods in the Port of Gothenburg. The reliability of the port's rail system has increased with the expansion and refurbishment of the Port Line leading into the port. Inside the terminals, efficiency has increased, partly due to APM Terminal's extensive investments in the container terminal's rail handling.
In total, 149,000 TEU of rail-borne container goods was transported to or from the port as a whole between January and April, compared to 126,000 TEU during the same period last year.
Much of the long-distance freight is made up of Swedish basic industry products such as steel, paper, pulp and timber, which are generally transported by rail from inland locations or the east coast to the Port of Gothenburg for onward transport by sea to export markets on the continent.
The freight often needs to be switched to containers at one of the three transloading terminals at the Port of Gothenburg. One of the transloading terminal operators are Mimab, who has had a successful run.
After a successful 2018 with a 20 per cent upturn in volumes for Mimab, the development in the first four months of 2019 have indeed turned out to be even more successful, as volumes increased by 32 per cent, compared to the same period last year.