Scandinavia shrugs off the downturn

“In those ports where we operate, Lantma¨nnen Lantbruk will invariably own a shiploader or loading spout. In some ports, we also own our own discharge equipment, but mostly we would make use of cranes owned by the port,” explains Jeppsson, who remains unimpressed by the levels of efficiency demonstrated by many port stevedores, who have an effective monopoly on cargo handling.

In respect of domestic movements of grain, at harvest time, Lantma¨nnen Lantbruk will often ship 75,000–100,000 tonnes from the Lake Ma¨laren region down to Norrkoping, which has a major storage facility. Most of that grain is subsequently exported, but the company also owns an ethanol plant in the city, which consumes around half a million tonnes of grain a year, much of which has to be shipped in from further north.
Of the 700,000 t that are exported annually, there is a clear division between milling wheat and malting barley. The former goes mainly to Denmark and Spain, with smaller consignments shipped to North Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, while the biggest markets for the latter are to be found in Germany and Benelux.
“The coastal market uses vessels in the 3,000–8,000dwt range, rising to 12,000–15,000dwt for the Spanish market. Anything going beyond that would normally be shipped in 25,000dwt vessels,” says Jeppsson.
In terms of adding value to the basic product, Lantma¨nnen Lantbruk does undertake cleaning and sieving prior to loading. The company also provides logistics services, moving the grain from the farms to the ports by road, although hires in trucks and charters many of the ships used to transport consignments.
“We might be interested in rail if the service were better, but there is a lack of capacity, resulting in poor turnaround times and
uncompetitive prices,” he says.
In 2010, the Finnish port of Olkiluoto handled 170,000 tonnes of various products, the majority of which was dry bulk. This was an increase of 40,000 tonnes compared with 2009. In terms of imports, Ilkka Leino, managing director of Olkiluoto Port Logistics Ltd, notes that German gypsum, at 50,000 tonnes, is the biggest single commodity, followed by 25,000 tonnes of pig iron, which is inbound from both Russia and Norway. Russia, France and Germany provided a combined 15,000 tonnes of steel bars, while some 6,000 tonnes of silicate sand came in from Holland. In addition, 5,000 tonnes of steel scrap was imported from either Holland or Denmark, 5,000 tonnes of shredded tyres from France, 2,000 tonnes of metallurgical coal from Germany and 5,000 cubic metres of pulped wood from Finland and Sweden.
There were also three major export commodities. Spain imported 25,000 tonnes of steel scrap, Estonia, Latvia and Russia 20,000 of blasting grit in big bags and Sweden 7,500 tonnes of pulpwood.
Asked whether any of these shipments could be regarded as captive to Olkiluoto, Leino notes, “Olkiluoto is a small port, while many of our neighbours handle volume in excess of 5mt. They are not that interested in shipments of 20,000 tonnes. So that is our niche. In addition, we have good road connections to the surrounding industry, so we can offer our services to a quite wide range of customers.”
To date capacity at the port has not been a problem, thanks
mostly to expansion that took place last year, when a new 10,000m2 square metre storage area opened. Additional infill work will take place this summer, which will add a further 10,000m2 of operating area.
The port’s most modern handling equipment consists of two Mantsinen type cranes, one of which arrived just two months ago, thereby doubling existing handling speeds. In addition to that, there is a 40-tonne port crane suitable for heavy lifts.
“All consignments loaded or discharged at the port make use of road for the landside part of the journey, since Olkiluoto port is not rail connected,” says Leino.
Since the available draught is only 6m, the maximum vessel size is 5,500dwt, although plans do exist to increase the draught in the fairway to 7m.
“By deepening the fairway, we could expand the range of products that we handle, with one example being steel scrap shipments to Turkey,” he says.
Value-added services offered consist of putting some bulk products into big bags, with Leino pointing out that other products can be packed or stuffed into containers if necessary.
The Danish Port of Vordingborg has not been affected at all by the global recession in the last two years, says spokesperson Jan Ulrik Petersen. Indeed, in 2010, the amount of grain passing
through the port amounted to 201,000 tonnes compared with 141,000 tonnes in 2009, all of it outbound.
“The majority of our grain exports go to EU countries, although some goes to non-EU nations in the Baltic Sea region,” he says.
Asked whether this traffic is effectively ‘captive’ to the port, he estimates that around 43,300 tonnes could have used alternative outlets in the region.
“Most of the time, we do have enough
capacity to handle all the grain that we are offered, although our one limitation is that only two vessels can be handled in the port at any one time. We do have expansion plans ready to implement and will probably undertake an extension to our ro- ro berth,” notes Petersen.
He also reveals that in 2012–2020 a new tunnel will be built between Denmark and Germany in the Fehmarn Belt (in the western Baltic) and it is hoped that Vordingborg port will be selected as one of the production sites for tunnel elements.
Handling equipment currently consists of a Liebherr 944 mobile harbour crane and a shiploader connected directly to the grain storage warehouse at the port, where grain is also dried. No other value added services are available.
All consignments arrive at the port by road, although Vordingborg is also certified for use by modular road trains.