| Read about our newly built warehouse, meet our new employees, the ripple effect created from our US-traffic and more in our latest newsletter. |
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The build of a new warehouse at Västra hamnen started early autumn last year. During the winter the building process has been going as planned and M90 was ready for use a couple of weeks ago. The first vessel, loaded with 3 800 tons of wood pellets, was received just a few days after the warehouse was finished.
M90 has been built for storing pellets for our customer Göteborg Energi. The pellets arrive to us by vessel and initially the annual volume over the quay will be 45 - 60,000 tonnes, and then increase to around 90,000 tonnes per year. The agreement with Göteborg Energi is for 5 years with an option for another 3 years. The intention is that the warehouse will then be moved to a new area on, or near, the current quarry.
The general contractor for the construction was Hallgruppen and MEXL has been the construction manager and quality manager for the project. Most of the contractors we have hired have had a local connection, which we think adds an extra bonus to this project. |
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Since our two-year agreement with scheduled traffic, between Uddevalla and the US, started in October last year it has created a ripple effect. In addition to the Swedish paper and packaging industry regularly using the liner service, volumes from Norway and Germany have been added. We also receive various inquiries from product owners for export and import. For example, we now have monthly import of paper from Halden in Norway, with the shipping company DFDS and their vessel Transporter.
M/V Transporter does not return empty-handed from Uddevalla. On each occasion she is loaded with several chassis, for further transport to the continent.
Wagenborg Shipping, who operates the liner service between Port of Uddevalla and Penn Warehousing in Philadelphia, has a vessel call into Uddevalla every four to five weeks. |
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Henrik Bengtsson started as a freight forwarder at Port of Uddevalla in mid-January. He is a long-awaited addition to our forwarding department, as they have had a busy time trying to keep up with all the newly added cargo volumes.
Henrik has extensive experience from the industry, most recently from working with the transport service provider Freightman in Gothenburg. There he had a varied assignment which included everything from sea freight forwarding, customs and land transports, with cargo flows mainly from Scandinavia.
In his new role with us Henrik is one out of six freight forwarders, who are responsible for various types of forwarding assignments. He is involved in creating solutions for efficient handling of our customers' goods. He also coordinates distribution and warehousing and are responsible for customs matters connected to this, including any transport documentation necessary.
Henrik also has his own responsibility for several customers who have freight flows via Uddevalla, as a freight forwarder with us. This includes exports and imports for vessel-related cargo, as well as pure terminal assignments. The role also includes daily contact with customers, partners and of course many internal contacts in our company.
- It feels great to be here and getting to know my new colleagues. I also find joy in knowing that there is still so much new to learn, even though I have been in the industry for a while. In my opinion, the big variation is the greatest charm of the job. I hope to be able to use my experience to contribute with new perspectives and to help bring the port forward in matters concerning digitization and new ways of working, Henrik says.
We welcome Henrik to Port o Uddevalla and hope that he will continue to enjoy working with us! |
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A new record in heavy lifting for Port of Uddevalla was set when we received a transformer, weighing in at 257 tons. The transformer, which was loaded on a special wagon, was after reception moved to a self-propelled transport trolley and relocated to the Sörvik terminal for storage.
Transformers converts alternating current to direct current to be able to transport high current for long distances on land, without reduced power. This transformer, together with several others, will be exported by sea from Uddevalla later this spring.
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In the past few months, we have had the pleasure of being able to welcome fourteen new employees to our stevedoring department. It was a long time since we got so many new colleagues at the same time, and it feels fantastic to welcome everyone to Port of Uddevalla. Many new employees also means that now there are many who are undergoing training with us. We hope for your understanding and consideration, if some assignments take a little extra time.
We managed to gather all our new employees in the picture below and we are happy to welcome you all to Port of Uddevalla! |
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We are currently at work upgrading the lighting in our warehouses to new and more energy-efficient luminaires. In addition to the new luminaires providing a better light, more like ordinary daylight, they also let us save up to 70% energy compared to the old ones.
Motion sensors, that make the light automatically go out after a short while, has also been installed. Which of course also reduces our energy consumption. In the picture below you can see one of our warehouses, where the work is in process, and we have replaced half of the lighting. Just, look at the difference! |
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Loke, Nor, Frigg, Idun, Odin, Freyja, Sol, Nanna, Vidar, Magne and Brage Viking. The yellow Viking vessels have become a familiar sight in Uddevalla by now. During the past decade, all of them has called at the quays of Port of Uddevalla on at least one occasion.
All these vessels belong, or did at the time they were in Uddevalla, to Viking Supply Ships AS. They are a shipping company founded in Norway, currently based in Copenhagen. The extraordinarily strong and durable vessels main area of use is as AHTS vessels in the North Sea. AHTS stands for Anchor Handling Tug Supply, which means that they can be used as anchor handling vessels, tugs, or supply vessels. As supply vessels, they transport all kinds of materials to oil rigs off the Danish and Norwegian coast. |
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Some of the vessels have also had several special assignments, in addition to their regular duties. When there was an extensive fire on board M/V Almirante Storni last year, M/V Loke Viking assisted in the extinguishing. In this link you can see pictures from the assignment, taken by the Swedish Coast Guard. Totally different and perhaps somewhat unpredictably, M/V Magne Viking has had a shorter Hollywood career in the film Tenet from 2020. You can watch M/V Magne Viking in the official trailer for the movie in this link.
Did you know that Viking Supply Ships AS also handles the operation of our five Swedish state Icebreakers Ale, Atle, Frej, Ymer and Oden have all been cared for by them since 2000, on behalf of the Swedish Maritime Administration. |
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Our result for 2021 is summed up and despite a tough start to the past year, we managed to reverse the trend. This has been a joint effort, that our personnel have worked incredibly hard to make possible!
The group shows a very good result for 2021 of SEK 11.3 million before tax in summary. This result can be compared with the SEK 1.5 million we had in the budget, which after the summer was revised upwards to SEK 3.9 million.
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The situation in Ukraine is desperate and children and families are currently fleeing for their lives. We at Port of Uddevalla wanted to help in this urgent situation and decided to start a fundraiser for Ukraine via UNHCR during March.
Our employees, among others, donated a total of 22,411 SEK. That amount was then matched by us, through a donation of another 25,000 SEK. We would like to thank all of you who were involved in our fundraiser, you make a difference!
Our fundraising is finished, but please continue to contribute to UNHCR's important work via the link below. |
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I wrote about brighter times about a year ago, something that at this moment feels completely wrong. While we may have left the pandemic behind, the ongoing war in Ukraine has set dark forces to life in Europe. A small but important consolation to me is to see all the positive role models and counterforces, doing their best to help fellow human beings in need.
In Uddevalla, the year has had a positive start with more vessel calls and volumes than we have had in a long time. Although this creates new challenges for us, it is under pleasant circumstances. The digital world we live in entails new customer requirements but also changes in the way we work. We try to adapt both system support and work processes to meet these needs on an ongoing basis, to make us more flexible.
We are continuously receiving new inquiries from new customers and from existing customers with new volumes. As gratifying as this is, we have in recent times been forced to say no to some. It's unfortunate but we are not always able to meet everyone's needs. We do continue to focus where we can make a difference, to work on developing our port and terminal areas and to create stable freight volumes for sustainable development.
I will end this text in almost the same way as it did a year ago. With spring and summer around the corner, I hope that not only winter but also that the war in Ukraine will loosen its grip. So that we can all continue to live our lives, such as we desire.
Jacob Engholm, Marketing Manager
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