The Port of Gothenburg is the incontestable gateway to Sweden. As the country’s largest port by
far, it is responsible for handling 57% of Sweden’s container traffic. The port is thus a critical asset for the Gothenburg region and the national economy as a whole, considering the relatively high share of maritime transport costs in the goods value of Sweden’s main export products. Exemplary in various respects, the port of Gothenburg is widely recognised for its advanced policies with regards to mitigating air emissions and its high share of rail in the hinterland transport modal split.
A newly released study which carried out as part of a programme at the International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD, aims to assess the impact of mega-ships on the city of Gothenburg, Sweden.
The most important challenge for Gothenburg is to keep attracting direct calls from ocean going vessels. Direct calls are considered of utmost importance by large Swedish shippers, because they reduce risks, costs and time in comparison to the option of transshipment and feedering via other European ports. As Asia is the main export market of Swedish industry for containerised goods, attracting direct calls means in practice attracting the mega-containerships that are deployed on the Asia-North Europe trade lane. Gothenburg has been successful in attracting some of these direct calls, in part thanks to its container terminal upgrades and sound performance indicators.
In order to continue attracting direct calls, improvements to the maritime access to the port of Gothenburg would be necessary. There are constraints to the depth of the port access channel and the depth of the container berths, which means that many ship types cannot call Gothenburg when fully loaded, or even half loaded in some circumstances. For the moment this is not a major problem, but various developments will require deepening the access channel and berth.
The emergence of mega-containerships has cascading effects, i.e. the average ship size will increase on all trade lanes. As trade growth and the concomitant demand for container services will eventually increase, so will the utilisation rates of container ships, which means that these ships will be more fully loaded. The port concentration tendencies of increasing container ship size will mean that Gothenburg will have to improve maritime access if it would like to remain competitive with other North European ports.
Another condition for attracting direct calls is more focus in Swedish ports policies. Despite Gothenburg’s dominance in the national ports system, this is not officially recognised. As a result, various new container port projects have emerged in Sweden, backed by local governments that own these ports and that consider them interesting local revenue sources. This fragmentation could mean a duplication of infrastructures and risk of deconcentration of cargo flows. This might undermine the possibility of Gothenburg to attract direct calls, for which sufficient cargo volumes are needed.
The study recommends the following:
- Develop a focused national ports policy for Sweden: An effective national ports policy would include a clear articulation of the roles each port is expected to fulfil for the Swedish economy, as well as in which sector and in particular the container sector. A common understanding should be developed between local, region and national governments, so that a national focus will not be undermined by local planning permits for port expansions. Within this national ports policy the need for Swedish shippers to have at least one container port with direct calls from its main trade partners, in particular from Asia, should be recognised. As such, Gothenburg should be acknowledged as a strategic gateway for trade and freight for the whole country.
- Make it easier for the Port of Gothenburg to attract direct calls by container ships: Assisting the Port of Gothenburg’s to attract more direct calls should include developing a proactive approach to the project to deepen the fairway and container berths. Translate this priority in clear public investment decisions, e.g. with respect to improving maritime access, hinterland connectivity, dry port development and short sea shipping.
- Resolve bottlenecks related to mega-ships: The handling of mega-ships would be accommodated by facilitating longer trains and by resolving remaining bottlenecks in the railway network. In order to increase utilisation of infrastructure, projects to increase containerisation of main export products such as forestry products could be stimulated.
Further details may be found by reading the report herebelow
Source: ITF-OECD