Leading terminal operator EUROPORTS is well known for its expertise and strong position in the forest products sector.
The company operates 22 terminals throughout Europe and China and is a major player in the dry bulk and steel sectors at many of its terminals. But its largest involvement across the entire group is in the forest products sector where annually EUROPORTS handles in excess of 10mt (million tonnes) through its terminals in Antwerp, Rouen, Rauma, Pietersaari, Rostock, Changshu, Jining and, most recently, at a new development in Tarragona.
Two-thousand-and-eleven is shaping-up to be a very strong year for EUROPORTS with forest product volumes already some 19% above last year with strong gains having being made in Antwerp, Finland and China.
At its 80-ha Antwerp terminal, EUROPORTS gained a significant new contract with RAIL 11 which started operations at the end of December 2010. RAIL 11 is a new logistics concept organizing the distribution of paper from five of Sweden’s major paper producers on a neutral basis. Three block trains arrive at EUROPORTS Antwerp terminal every week delivering annually some 120,000 tonnes of Swedish paper.
In February this year the company inaugurated its handling of forest products in Tarragona with the start of a new bi- monthly service from Brazil operated by Westfal Larsen and supported by the world’s largest pulp producer Fibria. EUROPORTS is already a major player in the Port of Tarragona where it operates coal, coke and animal feed terminals. By working closely with the Port Authority, EUROPORTS is in the process of establishing a new purpose-built deep-water forest products terminal in the clean area of the port adjacent to the car and container terminals. This new investment, which is equipped with a large ro-ro ramp, will officially open in October.
EUROPORTS’ volumes of forest products are continuing to increase strongly in the second half of the year as market gains made over the summer start to have an impact. The most significant recent gain for EUROPORTS has been at its Antwerp terminal where TransAtlantic commenced a weekly service in June principally carrying Stora Enso paper from the northern Finnish ports of Kemi and Oulu.