| Sweden has an exemplary international freight | | | | making a huge difference to the environmental impact |
| infrastructure with internal and external communications | | | | of international freight in Sweden. |
| that are second to none. | | | | It is not quite so easy to introduce rail transport for |
| The economy is in good shape, despite the global | | | | trailers as it is for containers, as up to now it has been |
| slowdown, with substantial GDP growth over the last | | | | less expensive to move trailers by truck. However, the |
| decade and it is judged to be one of the most | | | | Port of Gothenburg is promoting the new freight |
| competitive and robust economies anywhere in the | | | | transport arrangements to shipping companies and |
| world. | | | | freight services companies and hopes that the freight |
| This has led to development and constant innovation in | | | | forwarding sector operating in Sweden will latch onto |
| freight transport and freight services as well as other | | | | the arrangement. This will offer efficient freight |
| sectors. In particular, there has been investment where | | | | transport to shipping companies and bring significant |
| there can be simultaneous improvements in freight | | | | environmental benefits. |
| transport efficiency and also delivery of environmental | | | | Another example of innovation in freight services at |
| benefits. | | | | the Port of Gothenborg is the recent installation of |
| Evidence of this can be seen at the Port of | | | | Jeppesen's staff and equipment planning system, |
| Gothenburg, which is Sweden's largest ro-ro port, | | | | called REKO, at its ro-ro terminal. A division of Boeing, |
| handling 0.5 million trailers each year. Combi-train | | | | Jeppesen is best known for its navigational applications |
| services catering for semi-trailers have started | | | | but has also developed a range of modelling and |
| operating between the Port of Gothenburg and three | | | | decision software for logistics and freight forwarding |
| other centres in Sweden - Vannas (1000 km to the | | | | applications. The new system is a resource |
| north) Helsingborg (in south west Sweden) and | | | | management tool that allows ports to allocate staff |
| Eskilstuna in central Sweden. | | | | and equipment more effectively, improving the |
| Over the past ten years, the Port of Gothenburg has | | | | efficiency of freight services. |
| invested heavily in increasing the volume of freight | | | | Ports are a complex human resource environment, |
| forwarding moved by train to and from the port and | | | | with workloads that are varied, subject to the vagaries |
| today just under half of all containers are transported | | | | of vessel schedules and demand a wide range of |
| by rail. This is equivalent to around 200,000 containers | | | | labour requirements to deliver efficient international |
| a year, meaning that there are 550 fewer large trucks | | | | freight transport. |
| on the road each day. | | | | The ro-ro terminal at Gothenborg employs 300 |
| At present, only a few of the ro-ro trailers accounting | | | | stevedores and handles 700, 000 units annually so |
| for freight transport arrive by train, with the remainder | | | | matching resources to demand more effectively can |
| going by road, but this is about to change, with a short | | | | lead to significant savings in freight services efficiency |
| term goal for about 10% of all trailers to be transported | | | | and labour costs. The new system allows Gothenborg |
| to or from the port by trailer train. This would mean | | | | to be more efficient in terms of both slack and |
| about 60,000 trailers each year, so that is around 165 | | | | overtime, streamlining the freight operations in a way |
| less large trucks on the road each day. In the medium | | | | that ultimately benefits the shipping company and |
| to long term, the objective is for this to rise to 25%, | | | | freight company. |