Stena Line manifests the new concept of Broadening Business by investing heavily in rail and combined traffic services, increasing the company’s presence throughout the logistics chain. Interestingly, by feeding larger freight volumes into the rail network and promoting long-distance rail transport, Stena Line sees a greater potential in short sea shipping as a result.
In many respects, Stena Line has entered a new era in short sea ferry services and shipping logistics. With a new vision, one where intermodal transport solutions are top priority, Stena Line is ready to meet new challenges and embark on new markets.
Motivated to go intermodal
Project Manager Christer Kjellberg is responsible for the development of Karlskrona Baltic Port into a full-service intermodal connection point. It will be one of the largest multimodal hubs in Sweden, forwarding great freight volumes to and from Gdynia in Poland. The network stretches from Gdynia, through Karlskrona and all across Sweden to as far as Haparanda in northern Lapland.
“Our effort in building intermodal connections stretches over the Baltic Sea to cover the Port of Gdynia as well. Our aim is to develop the rail connection from Gdynia to key markets in Austria, Hungary and as far as to the Black Sea eastbound and to the Adriatic Sea southbound”, Kjellberg explains.
Stena Line is establishing so called open networks, enabling anyone to use the rail shuttle service. This reduces the risk significantly for the clients, who are not required to subscribe to a fixed number of railway carts.
“We see the intermodal connection via Karlskrona as a significant development in the market. It allows our customers to further optimise their transport solutions in this corridor. With additional ferry capacity added to this route, we are well positioned to continue to serve our customers throughout this growing corridor”, says Jacob Koch-Nielsen, Freight Commercial Manager Scandinavia.
As there are currently larger volumes of goods being shipped from Southern and Central Europe to the Scandinavian countries, the greatest potential lies in Eastern Europe, and therefore Stena Line has established a stronger presence in the markets of Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia through the exclusive cooperation with Harborsz whom acts directly on behalf of Stena Line.
There are also significant investments being made in new railway in the East, which strengthens Stena Line’s motivation for realising the company’s own investments in intermodal transport solutions.
Venturing into Russia
Stena Line has recently initiated collaboration with TransContainer in order to build an extensive route network for intermodal services in Russia.
“We are able to offer an extremely sophisticated service through the Russian rail network, operated by one of the largest container transport companies in the world. This is a large step into the future where intermodal services are a new way of life for Stena Line”, says Peter Kleberg, Head of Shipping Logistics at Stena Line.
Using the ferry connection between Nynäshamn in Sweden and Ventspils in Latvia, Stena Line connects the northern European hubs to important emerging markets across Russia, even reaching into the Far East.
With a fleet of 60 000 containers, TransContainer is an experienced and powerful partner.
“TransContainer provides us with updates several times a day, enabling us to provide our clients with an exact arrival time. We are very pleased with the collaboration and we hope to expand it with larger volumes being exported from Sweden to the emerging eastern markets”, Peter Kleberg continues.
Entering a new era
Stena Line’s investments may be seen as a pioneering step into a new era, where the different types of transportation are coordinated to create the best possible solution for the customer. The sustainability aspect spans over multiple perspectives, where environmental sustainability is largely combined with economic factors.
“Our clients require our services to be competitive in terms of efficiency, reliability and cost. We successfully combine this with an environmental perspective, creating sustainable intermodal transport and ferry services for the future”, confirms Jacob Koch Nielsen.
