№ 5/2022 (109), SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
ISSN 1733-6732
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Baltic Transport REPORT
Baltic bulk market in 2021 T E C H N O LO G Y
Extend your reality. VR & AR technologies in and around the ship B TJ T R I P 2022 \ S W E D E N
Visiting the ports in Ystad, Trelleborg, Oxelösund, Karlshamn, and Södertälje – sustainably!
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Dear Readers,
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nother year, another autumn, another Baltic Yearbook! Head over here for a glimpse into this 164-page-strong publication, including a PDF preview. A shipload of thanks goes to our invaluable Partners who made putting the latest release to bed possible! Besides that, we have prepared a new round-up of the latest from across the transport & logistics world. The cover hints at the Report’s topic, namely how the region’s ports fared in handling bulk goods, dry and liquid, last year. Customarily, the newest versions of the Baltic Bulk Map accompany our journal’s autumn issue. Regarding liquids, the Economy’s piece drills through the particulars of reducing Europe’s oil consumption, consequently, its dependency on the Kremlin. The 5/22 edition also features a very, very special section: BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden. During the break of August and September, we had the chance to embark on a sustainabilityfocused journey over the Baltic Sea, visiting Ystad, Trelleborg, Oxelösund, Karlshamn, and Södertälje. In the issue, you will find the tour coverage, likewise interviews with the ports’ representatives. Here also, our Partners deserve a huge shout-out! The Maritime column is future-heavy, hosting two reads on liquefied natural gas (eliminating methane slip and the benefits of retrofitting in light of upcoming regulations), shipping decarbonisation (through data-led partnerships), and why it is pivotal to know one’s vessel’s ‘real’ carbon footprint ahead of making any investments. The Technology section puts its pennyworth, too, with reads on various facets of digitalisation (not all of them necessarily moving the needle in the desired direction). There are also articles on LED lights making ports’ future brighter resilience-wise, as well as using virtual and augmented realities in and around ships. Logistics tops it off by considering the various reasons for greening ferry ports by truck flow optimisation. There is an extraordinary read in Heritage corner in which we commemorate the Port of Gdynia’s 100th anniversary. It is a story of many twists & turns, resembling the tangled history that set the action scene for Poland and its rural fishing village-turned-bustling port. Against all odds, Gdynia is alive & kicking (unlike one of its sons, Ernst Stavro Blofeld; now, that’s some port-party trivia!). There is always Transport miscellany to get you relaxed after all those very much futureoriented pieces. In it, you will find entries on river-borne mail, the British saluting a Baltic ship with a coin, the Estonian postal service doing the same with a stamp for the country’s first in-housebuilt steel ship, and that the Diesel engine didn’t immediately revolutionise transportation. Przemysław Myszka
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№ 5/2022 (109), SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
ISSN 1733-6732
bimonthly-daily companion
Journal
Baltic Transport REPORT
Baltic bulk market in 2021 T E C H N O LO G Y
Extend your reality. VR & AR technologies in and around the ship B TJ T R I P 2022 \ S W E D E N
Visiting the ports in Ystad, Trelleborg, Oxelösund, Karlshamn, and Södertälje – sustainably!
OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER OF:
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Go to www.baltictransportjournal.com and click: SUBSCRIPTION or contact us at subscription@baltictransportjournal.com Photo: Jan Rutka/Port of Gdynia
5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 3
LINER SERVICE EUROPE GREAT LAKES
The first and only yearround liner service between Europe and the Great lakes Quick transit time | Through bills of lading | Onward connections using Spliethoff’s European and American logistic network | Line-supplied containers, project, heavy lift, steel, forest products and bulk| Calling various Great Lake ports, including: - Valleyfield QC - Cleveland OH - Duluth MN - Ramey’s Bend ON - Chicago IL - Monroe MI www.spliethoff.com or greatlakes@spliethoff.com
CONTENTS
36
ECONOMY
36 No (future) regrets – Europe’s bumpy road to reducing its oil consumption by Ewa Kochańska
3
REGULAR COLUMNS
3 8 10 12 14 16 17 18 19
Editorial BTJ calendar of events Market SMS What’s new? Map news Made in China What’s in the Cabinet Venture forth Chart of the issue – DFDS’ infographics on future green marine fuels: ammonia, hydrogen, and methanol 20 BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden – Visiting the ports in Ystad, Trelleborg, Oxelösund, Karlshamn, and Södertälje – sustainably! by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki 26 No day like the other – Interview with Björn Boström, Managing Director, the Port of Ystad by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki 28 From tomorrow’s to today’s port – Interview with Jörgen Nilsson, CEO, the Port of Trelleborg by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki 30 Much more than just quays – Interview with Douglas Heilborn, CEO, and Fredrik Nikander, Marketing and Sales Director, the Port of Oxelösund by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki 32 The proper perspective – Interview with Mats Olsson, CEO, the Port of Karlshamn by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki 34 Doing things smartly – Interview with Per Fredman, VP of Sales and Marketing & Member of the Management Team, the Port of Södertälje by Przemysław Opłocki 72 Events: Europe’s challenges in transport decarbonisation by Ewa Kochańska 76 Heritage corner: Port of Gdynia’s centenary by Przemysław Myszka 78 Transport miscellany 80 Who is who
40
MARITIME
40 Collaboration in action – The Blue Visby Consortium: how data-powered partnership helps accelerate maritime decarbonisation by Pekka Pakkanen 42 Let nothing slip away – The GREEN RAY project: reducing methane slip from LNG engines by Asya Al Marhubi and Belén Gutiérrez 44 Waiting is not an option – With CII incoming, it is time to reconsider LNG retrofits by Adi Aggarwal 46 Know thy ship – Why ‘real’ carbon footprint is key to investment by Mia Elg 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5
1,600 tonnes on the move. For your heavylift project, our crane even travels at full load. www.liebherr.com
Maritime cranes
CONTENTS
58
TECHNOLOGY
58 Obligation-turned-opportunity – Alleviating the reporting burden for better working conditions and improved ship operations by Arnaud Dianoux 60 Plug and play – Why collecting and analysing data will make ship operations more sustainable and improve crew safety by Fitzwilliam Scott 62 A rising tide – The why’s of port services digitalisation by Jason Berman 64 In a new light – Ways modern LED lighting can add to port resilience by Mark Nailer 66 Smooth flow of data – and cargo – Improved ship & freight planning: from drowning in emails to having the digital business intelligence edge by Arto Viitanen 68 Extend your reality – VR & AR technologies in and around the ship by Arbresh Ujkani and Markus Thielecke
51
REPORT
51 Baltic bulk market in 2021 by Marek Błuś and Przemysław Myszka
56
NEWSLETTER BPO
56 Baltic Ports Conference 2022 concludes by Andrzej Urbaś
70
LOGISTICS
70 Ready to roll? – Greening ferry ports by truck flow optimisation by Irina Wahlström, Magnus Hellström, Anastasia Tsvetkova, and Yiran Chen 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 7
BTJ CALENDAR OF EVENTS TOC Asia, 29-30/11/22, SG/Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, www.tocevents-asia.com After two years of industry change, port technology advancement and digital acceleration, we are pleased to bring the industry back together face-to-face. Take part in our two-track content agenda to hear from change-makers within the global container supply chain and discover the latest innovations within terminal operations. Alongside our first-class conference, you will also benefit from a global port technology exhibition and the return of TOC’s famous social programme.
transport logistic, 9-12/05/23, DE/Munich, www.transportlogistic.de/en The world’s leading trade fair for logistics, mobility, IT, and supply chain management has been taking place in Munich since 1978. The trade fair, accompanied by a conference programme, presents the optimal solutions for every requirement, combining innovative products, technologies, and systems with pooled expertise and a strong sales focus. Advertisement
it’s out!
8 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
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BTJ CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Stockholm is a lovely city. Avoid it. The capital of Sweden attracts thousands of people every day. Commuters, tourists, taxis, you name it. The closer you get, the slower the traffic – and cargo transports – moves. Delays that can put a serious dent in your logistics. But when you face a problem, go around it. At the Port of Oxelösund, just a short distance south of Stockholm, we offer the possibility to bypass the heavy traffic completely. And, as a bonus, we have a direct connection to Sweden’s biggest motorway, European route E4. No more traffic jams, just smooth sailing. The Port of Oxelösund is more than a port. We can handle your entire logistics chain and optimize every part of your goods’ journey, from start to finish. Our goal is to be the Baltic’s leading port terminal, with Europe’s best stevedoring services.
oxhamn.se
5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 9
For more Market Statistics Made Simple please visit: www.baltictransportjournal.com
Port of Tallinn:
DFDS’ Ferry Division: 22,138k lane metres
Tonnage-wise, the Estonian seaport took care of 1.65mt of containerised freight, an 18.5% year-on-year increase.
Counting 18 m per one cargo transport unit, the Danish company’s fleet carried some 1,229,889 trucks & trailers and other units from January to June 2022.
207,052 TEUs handled in I-IX 2022 (+24.6% yoy)
filled in H1 2022 (+3.8% yoy)
The Port of Tallinn’s volumes Cargo traffic [thousand tonnes] Wheeled (ro-ro) 5,235 +8.7% Dry bulk 4,325 -41.5% Liquid bulk 2,195 -41.3% Containerised 1,649 +18.5% Break-bulk 480 +30.8% Non-marine 14 – Total 13,897 -21.5% International passenger traffic [thousand travellers] Tallinn-Helsinki 4,633 +137% Tallinn-Stockholm 329 +213% Cruise 170 +216% Muuga-Vuosaari 129 +30.0% Other 76 -34.6% Total 5,337 +129% Domestic passenger traffic [thousand travellers] Saaremaa and Hiiumaa lines1 1,852 +5.3% 1
Operated by the Port of Tallinn’s subsidiary TS Laevad
The Port of Piteå:
790kt handled in H1 2022 (+11.9% yoy)
Trade area Channel North Sea Mediterranean Baltic Sea Passenger Total
H1 2022 10,039k lane metres 756k passengers 7,084k lm 2,789k lm 1,985k lm 101k pax 241k lm 410k pax 22,138k lm 1,267k pax
yoy +6.2% +769% +1.7% +13.6% -13.8% +7.4% +68.5% +3,627% +3.8% +560%
The Port of Helsingborg: 241,264 ro-ro cargo units handled in H1 2022 (+6% yoy)
More containers went through the Swedish seaport, too, a 2.7% yearon-year uptick to a total of 137,155 TEUs. Overall, Helsingborg took care of 4.41mt over this year’s first half (+5.2% yoy), including 2.99mt of wheeled (ro-ro) cargo (+7.1% yoy), 1.07mt of containerised freight (+2.3% yoy), 160kt of liquid bulk (-5.3% yoy), 92kt of dry bulk (+12.2% yoy), 76kt of forest products (+40.7% yoy), and 18kt of break-bulk (-59.1% yoy). At the same time, the port’s passenger ferry traffic advanced by 77.8% yoy to altogether 2,157,323 travellers, plus 342,608 their cars (+61.9% yoy).
The Swedish seaport took care of more forest products (+22.9% year-onyear to 430kt), break-bulk (+160% yoy to 39kt), and wheeled (ro-ro) cargo (+100% to 6.0kt). Additionally, some 8.0kt dry bulk was handled (no handlings thereof in H1 2021). In contrast, less liquid bulk (-7.4% yoy to 274kt) and containerised freight (-21.6% yoy to 29kt) went through Piteå’s quays. TEU-wise, fewer ‘twenty-footers’ were handled (-51.4% yoy to 2,052). On the other hand, the port saw more ro-ro cargo units (+15.8% yoy to 117). The port’s finished vehicle segment contracted (-22.2% yoy to 1,958 cars).
Photo: Anders Ebefeldt/Studio-e/Port of Helsingborg
The Port of Aarhus:
361,545 TEUs handled in H1 2022 (+1.7% yoy) Overall, the Danish seaport took care of 5.3mt over this year’s first half, an increase of 7.5% on the H1 2021 result. Photo: Piteå Port & Hub
Viking Line:
1,875,706 passengers served in H1 2022 (+248% yoy) On the other hand, the company’s fleet carried fewer ro-ro cargo units, down by 8.7% year-on-year to 59,522. 10 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
The Port of Norrköping:
1.77mt handled in H1 2022 (+0.7% yoy) The turnover of forest products and iron ore & steel products rose – by 30.5% year-on-year to 406kt and by 77.8% yoy to 16kt, respectively. On the other hand, the Swedish seaport took care of less liquid bulk (-1.7% yoy to 520kt), containerised freight (-6.9% yoy to 446kt; -4.4% yoy to 57,878 TEUs), other dry bulk (-10% yoy to 377kt), and break-bulk (-41.7% to 7.0kt).
MARKET SMS The Port of Oxelösund:
3.02mt handled in H1 2022 (+32.4% yoy)
Photo: Port of Oxelösund
The hefty growth comes from the other dry bulk segment, which rose by 76% year-onyear to 2.26mt. The Swedish seaport also took care of more containerised freight, an increase of 80.6% yoy to 56kt. TEU-wise, 4,960 ‘twenty-footers’ went through Oxelösund’s quays (+56.4% yoy). The port also handled 403kt of iron ore & steel products (-13.5% yoy), 169kt of liquid bulk (-45.7% yoy), 87kt of wheeled (ro-ro) cargo (-19.4% yoy; 3,185 ro-ro cargo units, -37.9% yoy), and 37kt of forest products (-47.1% yoy).
HHLA: 851k TEUs carried by rail & road in H1 2022 (+2.2% yoy)
The company’s rail division took care of 709k TEUs (+4.6% yearon-year), while road added the remaining 142k TEUs (-8.2% yoy). HHLA’s sea container terminals handled 3,368k TEUs (+/-0% yoy), of which the three in Hamburg – 3,167k TEUs (+3.1% yoy). Following the Russian aggression on Ukraine, HHLA’s container terminal in Odesa ceased seaborne handling. In total, the company’s facilities in Estonia, Italy, and Ukraine handled 202k TEUs over 2022’s first half (-31.9% yoy).
The Port of HaminaKotka:
11.93mt handled in international & domestic traffic in I-IX 2022 (+8.8% yoy) Exports totalled 8.11mt (-1.9% year-on-year), imports – 3.27mt (+24.7% yoy), while cabotage added the remaining 545kt (+601% yoy). The Finnish seaports also took care of more containers, up 2.1% yoy to 462,952 TEUs.
The Port of Klaipėda: 478,674 TEUs handled in H1 2022 (+64.1% yoy) At the same time, the Lithuanian seaport took care of 157,797 trucks & trailers, noting a 4.8% downtick on the H1 2021 result. According to Statistics Lithuania, some 18.28mt went through Klaipėda’s quays over this year’s first half (-17.6% year-on-year). The drop accelerated in Q2 2022 (-22.1% yoy to 8.38mt vs -13.4% yoy to 9.9mt in Q1 2022). On the other hand, the port welcomed more passengers: up 3.7% yoy to 144.2k over H1 2022. Klaipėda’s cruise traffic saw 26.8k travellers arriving in April-July 2022, with no cruise passengers in the corresponding period last year.
5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 11
For more news items please visit: www.baltictransportjournal.com
Liebherr ships from the Baltic to the Med
Photo: Liebherr Maritime Cranes
Noatum’s cargo handling fleet in the Castellon, Sagunto, and Tarragona terminals has grown with three mobile harbour cranes: two LHM 420s and one LHM 550. Liebherr Maritime Cranes loaded the machinery onboard the heavy load carrier MERI in Rostock for onward delivery to Spain. The LHM 420 model offers 124t and the LHM 550 – 144t of lifting capacity. They joined another LHM 420, acquired by Noatum Terminal Sagunto earlier this year. The gear features Liebherr’s proprietary hydrostatic drive, in which closed hydraulic loops are used for all main functions, such as lifting, turning, and luffing. “The hydrostatic drive allows the operator extremely precise control. Additionally, service personnel benefit from a minimum number of components, and the operating company benefits from reduced fuel consumption,” the manufacturer highlights.
One step closer to LNG in Oxelösund Avenir LNG and the Port of Oxelösund have signed a memorandum of understanding for the development & construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG)/bioLNG terminal in the Swedish seaport. Avenir LNG intends to acquire a 100% stake in OxGas AB, the wholly-owned dedicated project company of the Port of Oxelösund that has secured all environmental and construction permits required for setting up the up to 30k m3 terminal. The OxGas Terminal will comprise a single full-containment atmospheric tank, natural gas delivery via regasification to a local pipeline network and LNG via two truck-loading bays for broader distribution beyond the port. The companies have also agreed to evaluate the development of a future energy hub to transition from LNG/bioLNG to renewable energy sources. Among others, Avenir and the Port of Oxelösund will evaluate CO2 reduction schemes toward a fully-renewable net-zero energy facility.
Finnish green ammonia ship co-op
Keel laying of Finncanopus China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Weihai) has begun working on the second in a series of two of what will become Finnlines’ flagship ferries once delivered in 2023. Finnsirius was launched on 30 August 2022, followed by the laying of Finncanopus’ keel on 1 September 2022. The deliveries of the sister ships are planned for Q3 and Q4 2023. They will serve Finnlines’ Kapellskär-Långnäs-Naantali service. According to the shipping line, the new Superstar-class vessels will offer 20% more cargo capacity than the current ‘Stars.’ Each GT 64.6k, 235 m long, 1A Super ice-class newbuild will have 5,100 lane metres for wheeled and other freight, plus room for about 1,100 passengers across 323 cabins. Finnsirius and Finncanopus will be equipped with scrubbers, battery packs, onshore power supply connectors, waste heat recovery, air lubrication, and will take advantage of auto-mooring.
KIT to triple its capacity The Lithuanian Ministry of Transport and Communications has earmarked €30m to develop the Kaunas Intermodal Terminal (KIT), aiming to increase its yearly handling capacity threefold from the current 55k cargo transport units. Some €3.3m will be used to create a new 6.0k m2 parking lot for trailers, plus purchasing a container loader and a terminal tractor. The rest of the funds will be directed towards installing infrastructure for handling military equipment. Here, the EU will provide half of the €26m spending. A 12 ha big public logistics centre will also open nearby KIT by 2026, according to Kaunas IN. The EU’s standard and broad gauge rail networks meet in Kaunas.
Photo: Wärtsilä
Green NortH2 Energy, Meriaura, and Wärtsilä have signed a letter of intent to build a project cargo vessel that runs on ammonia produced using renewable electricity. The newbuild will be ordered and operated by Meriaura, Wärtsilä will provide the modular multifuel main engines, and Green NortH2 Energy will supply the fuel (the company will build an electrolysis, green hydrogen & ammonia production plant in Naantali soon). The parties target 2024 for delivering the ship, with 2026 planned for starting green ammonia operations. “This is a natural step in Meriaura’s future fleet portfolio, complementing the fuel mix together with our in-house biofuel [...] production. This collaboration supports our ongoing newbuilding programme and carbon neutrality goals,” Jussi Mälkiä, Meriaura’s Chairman, underlined. The project is a continuation of the ship development cooperation between Green NortH2 Energy’s parent company Elomatic and Meriaura to renew lake Saimaa’s traffic. However, Russia’s attack on Ukraine moved the project from Saimaa to the sea.
Gothenburg gets the green light for a deeper & wider fairway The Land and Environmental Court has granted a permit to deepen and widen the fairway (from 13.5 to 17.5 m), strengthen the quay, and dispose of dredge spoil in a designated sea location. The Court, however, rejected an application for the dispensation of contaminated material at sea. The Swedish seaport will carry out quay reinforcement and deepening of the dock. The Swedish Maritime Administration will deepen the fairway and remove dredge spoil (some 13m m3 will be dredged). If all goes as planned, with construction works kicking off by 2022-end, the Port of Gothenburg’s Skandia Harbour will be able to welcome fully laden ocean-going 430 by 65 m and 17.5 m of draught vessels by 2026 at the earliest. The Skandia Gateway project is worth around SEK2.5b (€230m), with funding split in half between the Swedish Transport Administration and the Gothenburg Municipality. 12 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
WHAT’S NEW? Latvia to develop multimodal data digitisation & exchange platform The Port of Riga is leading a project tasked with creating an integrated platform for sharing information between various private & public logistics supply chain actors. “The implementation of the project will significantly improve the speed of multimodal cargo circulation, reduce the administrative burden and impact on the environment,” the Port of Riga says. The authority adds that the project will allow for the automation of port & logistics processes. The Digital Transformation of Port Management, Improving the Processing and Analysis of Transport and Logistics Data project is part of the Digital Transformation of the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. The initiative is led by the Port of Riga, with the support of the ports of Ventspils and Liepāja (the Liepāja Special Economic Zone Authority), the Maritime Administration of Latvia, Latvian Railways, the Customs Administration of the State Revenue Service, and the State Border Guard. The project’s implementation financing amounts to €3.2m. The Latvian ports will carry out the maintenance and future development of the platform.
Langh Ship orders container vessels
Färjerederiet’s biggest investment ever – inked
The Finnish shipping line’s fleet will grow with three 1,200 TEUs big carriers. In collaboration with the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute, Langh Ship has designed the 150 by 27m, 8.75m draft, 1A ice-class ships for carrying 45’ containers both in the holds and on deck. The newbuildings will be equipped with two-stroke, slow-speed main engines (suitable for running on biofuel) and hybrid scrubbers (from Langh Ship’s sister company Langh Tech). The container ships will be carbon capture-ready (for a system also developed by Langh Tech). The vessels will be prepared for shore power connection and a hybrid solution, including batteries. In addition, Langh Tech will supply the LanghBW Systems ballast water management system. The PaxOcean shipyard in Zhoushan will deliver the first vessel in August 2024. Meanwhile, the Wuhu Shipyard is working on three 7,800dwt multipurpose vessels for Langh Ship.
The Swedish Transport Administration’s ferry company has commissioned the Holland Shipyards Group to construct four hybrid ships. The 86 by 14.2m domestic traffic ferries, which will serve Stockholm’s archipelago, will be delivered starting from summer 2024 one piece a year. The newbuilds, usually running on electricity, will also feature backup HVO diesel engines. The entire investment (totalling SEK1.0b) will also cover eight automooring installations, four charging stations, a simulation centre likewise one for operating the vessels remotely. The ferries will perform certain operations automatically (autonomy level 2), such as mooring and hoisting/ lowering their ramps for vehicle load- and unloading. The charging will take around four minutes. The ordered ferries will help realise Färjerederiet’s Vision 45, in which the company’s fleet becomes climate-neutral by 2045.
5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 13
For Europe-wide maps news on ro-ro & ferry container intermodal please visit: www.europeantransportmaps.com
Baltic Enabler enters traffic Wallenius SOL’s newest con-ro joined her sister ship Botnia Enabler across the Zeebrugge-Antwerp-Kokkola-Oulu-Kemi-Skellefteå-Travemünde string on 25 August 2022. Each 242 by 35.2 m 1A Super ice-class vessel offers 6,442 lane metres for wheeled cargo; there is room for up to 960 TEUs. Both feature multi-fuel engines that can run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), bioLNG, diesel, and synthetic diesel. “Because many of our customers base their entire operation on the green transition, we must match them. These vessels enable us to do so. The Enabler vessels emit 63% fewer greenhouse gases and substantially less NOX (96%), SOX (99%) and particulates (99%) than older vessels,” Ragnar Johansson, Wallenius SOL’s Managing Director, underlined.
Photo: Wallenius SOL
New France-Poland rail service
CFL multimodal has set up a new service for the Portuguese KLOG, connecting the French Sète (VIIA’s terminal) with the Polish Swarzędz (CLIP’s) with one weekly round trip that takes two days. The 1,600 km long Sète-Swarzędz service carries fast-moving consumer goods (up to 38 trailers) sourced eastbound to France from Spain (Barcelona, Madrid) while westbound from Poland domestically (Poznań and Warsaw). CFL cargo is responsible for the France-Poland traction leg; Captrain Polska takes it over within Poland.
Unifeeder’s new Baltic-North Sea container service The company has started connecting the ports of Klaipėda and Immingham with a weekly, six-day transit time crossing. Vessels leave the Lithuanian seaport (Klaipėda Container Terminal) on Fridays, while the English (Immingham Container Terminal) – on Mondays. The 158 by 23 m, 880 TEUs of capacity Elbspring inaugurated the Immingham-Klaipėda service.
New Italy-Poland intermodal rail service As of mid-October, Hupac connects the Italian Pordenone and the Polish Gliwice with three weekly round trips. With traction provided by Mercitalia Rail, the Poland-to-Italy transit time is 16 hr and around 20 hr in the opposite direction. The service’s trains stop at Hupac’s terminal in Pordenone, and PKP CARGO CONNECT handles them at its container terminal in Gliwice. Dangerous goods are permitted for shipping. According to Hupac, taking the service results in 1.3t CO2 savings per road consignment.
CargoBeamer links Rostock and Kaldenkirchen With the help of its traction partner HSL Logistik, CargoBeamer offers six weekly round trips for craneable and non-craneable trailers as well as P400, refrigerated, silo, and container units by rail. The service’s transit time averages 18 hr. CargoBeamer says the new route is carbon-neutral: per transported unit, 64% of CO2 emissions are saved compared to road transport, with the remaining 36% compensated with CO2 certificates. “The addition of Kaldenkirchen-Rostock is the first step in our plans to expand the CargoBeamers network with numerous new lines by the end of 2023. With unaccompanied long-distance transport from the Baltic Sea via western Germany to Italy or the French-Spanish border, we are creating a new, attractive offer for our customers. On the historically strong axis from the Iberian Peninsula via Central Europe to Scandinavia, this will provide a new opportunity to shift from road to rail, which will realise further CO2 savings,” Boris Timm, CargoBeamer’s COO, highlighted.
Photo: CargoBeamer/Rostock Port/Nordlicht
Stena Estelle joins the Gdynia-Karlskrona service The E-Flexer ferry arrived in Poland, docking in Gdańsk at Remontowa’s yard for final adjustments before her first departure from Gdynia on 4 September 2022. The 240 by 28 m ro-pax offers 3,600 lane metres of cargo capacity and room for 1,200 passengers across 263 cabins. Stena Estelle will be joined by her sister ship Stena Ebba on the Gdynia-Karlskrona crossing in November this year. Freight-wise, each offers 15% more carrying capacity than the current E-Flexers. On her way to Europe, reports PortalMorski.pl, Stena Estelle took a one-off ro-ro load (construction vehicles) from the United Arab Emirates (Port of Jebel Ali) for unloading in the Netherlands (Vlissingen). On 13 August 2022, Stena Estelle made a test call to Karlskrona, after which she berthed in Gdańsk the following day. Stena Estelle was built by China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Weihai). 14 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
MAP NEWS The King’s Line returns to Trelleborg As of 2023, FRS Baltic’s high-speed catamaran Skane Jet will change its Swedish port of call, starting to connect Sassnitz with Trelleborg. FRS Baltic will offer daily trips from April-October 2023, plus night departures during the summer months. In Trelleborg, Skane Jet (offering room for 800 passengers and space for 200 vehicles) will use berth No. 7 where train ferries used to call but which was converted to take care of rubber-tyred rolling cargo. The King’s Line was running between Sassnitz and Trelleborg from 1897 till 2020, when Stena Line decided to scratch the link because of the coronavirus pandemic. FRS Baltic reactivated the service in mid-September 2020 with Ystad as the King’s Line’s port of call.
METRANS’ new Czechia-Poland service The company’s trains have started connecting METRANS’ terminal in Ostrava with the Deepwater Container Terminal Gdańsk (including a stopover in Dąbrowa Górnicza in southwestern Poland). The service runs three times a week in both directions. “We enable our customers in Central and Eastern Europe to get regular connections to the Port of Gdańsk. This is a welcomed, long-awaited connection, which brings new opportunities to the customers and the market,” Peter Kiss, METRANS-Group’s CEO, commented. He furthered, “The block trains between Gdańsk and Ostrava are optimised in length, which can reach up to 750 meters. That is increasing the capacity of a single train to 112 standard containers and helps to consume less energy per box.”
New Amber Train – tested
Photo: Operail
Together with its partners LDZ Cargo, LTG Cargo, HHLA TK Estonia, and Kaunas Intermodal Terminal, the Estonian Operail has dispatched the first Muuga-Kaunas train. “We’ll see how the loading of goods, border operations and the exchanging of documents and data function. This time, we moved from roads to rails some timber material, peat and construction foam, which we are transporting for our clients to Lithuania,” Raul Toomsalu, Operail’s CEO, highlighted. In Kaunas, trailers were transhipped onto a standard-gauge train heading westward. One of the trail’s customers, DB Schenker, had shipments destined for France and the Netherlands. The trail Amber Train was reloaded in Kaunas for its backhaul to Muuga. The new instalment of the Amber Train is set to become a regular, twice-a-week service. Though, the exact date of that is unknown. Riina Sikkut, Estonia’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure, underlined, “The Amber Train creates a connection between Northern and Western Europe. It provides an additional opportunity to develop freight transport that does not depend on Russia.” The previous Amber Train, set up in 2018, connected Šestokai, Riga, and Tallinn.
"THE BEST MAP OF THE NEW SILK ROAD! * NOT A REAL QUOTE (BUT WOULD BE IF MARCO POLO WAS HERE WITH US – SCAN THE QR CODE AND CHECK FOR YOURSELF!)
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MADE IN CHINA A new China-Netherlands rail container service The Düsseldorf-based Higo has connected Jinhua (Zhejiang province) and Venlo with two round trips per month. The first train set left the Chinese city on 20 July 2022 and arrived in the Netherlands on 6 August 2022, carrying some €3.0m worth of textile goods. In the opposite direction, Higotrains will carry newsprint, electronic devices, and medical equipment. The trains pass Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Germany on their way.
From China to Serbia – by rail Trans Eurasia Logistics and METRANS have partnered to set up a westbound container train that connects the Chinese Wuhan with the Serbian Pančevo. The transit time amounts to 18 days. Trans Eurasia Logistics (a JV of Deutsche Bahn, Russian Railways, and the China Railway Corporation) is responsible for the China-Kazakhstan-RussiaBelarus leg to Małaszewicze, from which METRANS takes the shipment and carries it via Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary to Serbia. The load consists of construction machinery parts. As for now, there are no eastbound trains scheduled for the Wuhan-Pančevo service.
Photo: Cabooter Group
New China-Hungary rail service A 100 TEUs big container train departed from Shijiazhuang on 15 July 2022, reaching BILK’s terminal in Budapest in 18 days. The route goes via Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Czechia before reaching Hungary. Among others, the shipment comprises photovoltaic modules and generator stator parts. Cangzhou Small and Medium Enterprises Cooperation Zone, Hungary-China Business and Logistics Cooperation Park, and Shijiazhuang International Dry Port have set up the service.
Testing the China-Afghan corridor The first shipment comprising two containers left the Chinese Kashgar on 13 September 2022 to test the August 2022-formed China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan route. The Kashgar-Osh part saw the boxes carried by truck. Next, they were transshipped onto a train in the Kyrgyz town for onward delivery to Hairatan. The whole road-rail transit time tots up to two weeks.
Photo: Dry Port Terminals
Electric vehicles by rail – but not Li-Ion batteries The Chinese authorities have given their green light for putting finished electric vehicles on rails to move them between Asia and Europe. However, the move does not cover the carriage of Lithiumion batteries. That said, shipping these (and other dangerous goods) on board trains isn’t off the Chinese Railway’s table.
Lithuanian Railways pulls back from China The state railway company of Lithuania has decided to shut down its representative office in China. Instead, Lithuanian Railways will tighten its cooperation with Kazakhstan, trying to reach Central and Far East Asia another way (omitting Russia as a bonus). The move comes from the protracted political dispute between the Lithuanian and Chinese cabinets, the latter using New Silk Road (NSR) trains as retaliation leverage for the former’s closing ties with Taiwan. NSR sets that used to stop by in Vilnius for load- and unloading on their way to the Kaliningrad Oblast ceased doing that, thus forcing the Lithuanians to haul the shipments to and from the country’s border with the Russian semi-exclave. Then, in mid-August 2022, Beijing decided to stop working with Lithuania on international transport affairs, threatening to sanction those who would.
Photo: LTG Cargo
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WHAT’S IN THE CABINET Rewriting women into maritime history The diversity-equality-inclusion-focused project will collate the material spread across archives so that accounts of women in the shipping industry can be identified and placed in the public domain for the first time. The initiative is led by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre, involving Lloyd’s List, the International Maritime Organization, the International Chamber of Shipping, the Nautical Institute, the UK chapter of the Women in Shipping and Trade Association, Nautilus International, and Preston Turnbull. The project is also supported by the International Congress of Maritime Museums, the National Maritime Museum, the University of Exeter, and the British Commission for Maritime History. Other interested parties are invited to join the initiative, which will run over several years. “Through ensuring that forgotten voices are heard, stories generated by the project can highlight the many opportunities presented by a maritime career,” the project partners highlighted in a press release.
The Marienborg Declaration On 30 August 2022, prime and energy ministers of eight EU Baltic countries signed the document in question, in which they commit to accelerating the development of the regional offshore wind market: from the current 2.8GW of installed capacity to 19.6GW by 2030. Specifically, they will work on speeding up the permit process, developing the infrastructure (grids and ports), enlarging the installation & service fleet, and engaging in joint projects (shared offshore wind farms and grid interconnectivity). For the EU to reach climate neutrality by 2050, offshore wind needs to grow from 15GW today to 300GW by mid-century (and onshore from 173 to 1,000). Regarding the former, the region has an estimated potential of 85-95GW. Giles Dickson, WindEurope’s CEO, commented, “The Baltic Sea will be a key part of Europe’s build-out of offshore wind. […] And it’s good they recognise the key role of cross-border collaboration. This’ll be essential, especially in grid development and maritime spatial planning. And it’s important the eight countries support investments in the offshore wind supply chain and in ports and other logistics infrastructure, using the significant EU recovery funds that are available.”
Capturing carbon on board ships – examined The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has released Insights into Onboard Carbon Capture, an analysis of the current technologies for CO2 handling and storage aboard, downstream considerations, and regulatory challenges. “Although there has been increased interest from the industry, the technology and its associated value chains have a long way to mature, and there are many factors to consider, such as onboard power supply, fuel types, exhaust characteristics and onboard storage. This Insights document is an important step in moving the conversation forward, supporting shipowners and operators with the latest information from ABS engineering and joint development projects,” Georgios Plevrakis, ABS’ Vice President, Global Sustainability, said. The US class also said that although onboard carbon capture systems are still being piloted, investment is expected to increase over the next decade, especially as discussions on global carbon markets advance.
Special Fund for Energies – set up CMA CGM has created the €1.5b five-year investment facility to hasten its and the transport & logistics industry’s energy transition. The Fund will be structured around four focus lines. The first will support the development & production of future bunkers: liquefied natural gas, biofuels, biomethane, e-methane, carbon-free methanol, and other alternatives. The second line will focus on decarbonising the company’s sea terminals and warehouses by making them energy self-sufficient (electrifying port equipment and truck fleets, investing in power generation like erecting photovoltaic farms). The third will support, trial, and launch cutting-edge innovation projects, a.o., the Energy Observer 2 intra-regional container ship running on liquid hydrogen, the Neoline sail-powered cargo ship, and the prototype blue economy marine research vessel and floating oceanographic laboratory SeaOrbiter. The last focus line will be split into three incentives. First, to build an energy management plan for CMA CGM Group’s office buildings. Second, encouraging and incentivising employee use of soft mobility solutions for commuting and business travel while improving the work-from-home systems used to avoid unnecessary travelling. Third, engaging the Group’s 150k employees through a holistic environmental approach that rewards innovative environmental protection and energy efficiency initiatives. Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, underscored, “The CMA CGM Group has been acting to protect the environment for many years. It is at the heart of my convictions and our strategy. However, in the face of the climate emergency, it is our duty to do more and accelerate our actions.” 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 17
VENTURE FORTH TEST AREA FOR HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS – OPENED • Corvus Energy has commenced testing & validation of what is set to become sustainable, large-scale maritime-certified hydrogen fuel cell systems. The new facility was added to the company’s production site in Bergen. Corvus Energy aims to have the first marine hydrogen fuel cell system type approved in 2023 and start scalable production
and commercial delivery in 2024. In March 2022, the H2NOR project for developing & producing hydrogen fuel cells (performance ranging from 320kW to 10MW) – initiated by Corvus Energy, Toyota (acting as the supplier of mass-produced fuel cell technology), and their partners – received approval in principle from DNV. •
GOTLAND HYDROCAT – PRESENTED • With the help of the Austal shipyard, the Swedish shipowner Gotlandsbolaget has unveiled the second zero-emission vessel in its Horizon series. Gotland Hydrocat is a high-speed catamaran that will feature a multi-green fuel engine, with hydrogen as the preferred one. The 35 knot-max speed vessel will offer room for 1,600 passengers, plus space for 450 cars. Gotlandsbolaget intends to place an order on Gotland Hydrocat in 2025, with the
catamaran entering traffic in 2030. It is the same time horizon for Gotland Horizon, a ferry concept, also multi-green fuel, presented by Gotlandsbolaget, Gotland Tech Development, and Destination Gotland last year. The 28-knot ro-pax will offer room for 1,900 passengers and cargo capacity for 100 trucks & trailers. Destination Gotland, which runs Gotland-mainland ferry traffic, aims to make its operations carbon-neutral by 2045. •
SAMSKIP’S CONTAINER SHIPS WILL CAPTURE CARBON • The company will see its Samskip Innovator and Samskip Endeavour fitted with Value Maritime’s Filtree gas cleaning solution. Due for commissioning in early 2023, each Samskip installation will feature a gas cleaning unit behind the ship funnel, with the recovered CO2 pumped to a 10MW battery set housed in ISO tank containers and carried on deck. These batteries will be unloaded in port, with Value Maritime trucking them to CO2 consumers, such as greenhouses, for discharge, then returning them empty for the next voyage. The
Filtree system captures 30% or more CO2 emissions for ships running on conventional marine fuels, say the parties. With multiple battery sizes available, ranging between 3.0MW and 15MW, Value Maritime’s current carbon capture solution covers engine sizes suitable for container ships of up to 2,000 TEUs capacity. Filtree is a prefabricated, pre-installed gas cleaning system for ships that removes sulphur, particulate matter, and CO2. The system also neutralises the PH value of wash water, removing oil residues and ultra-fine particles. •
ROBOTISING RAIL WAGON HANDLING • HHLA and the Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services are researching the automation of pin handling in rail processing using mobile robotics. The Pin handling mR project – supported by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure within the IHATEC innovative port technologies initiative – will develop and
demonstrate the handling of folding pins on container wagons by a mobile robot with a gripper arm. Additionally, software specific to robotics connected to the port logistics system via an interface will be developed within two and a half years, allowing the control centre to monitor and manage pin handling. •
FROM FINLAND TO SWEDEN BY SHIP – AND CARBON-NEUTRAL • The Decatrip project – comprising Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC), Viking Line, Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU), and Kempower – has received financing for developing solutions to make the Stockholm-Turku ferry service (freight and passengers) zero-carbon. RMC will develop energy-efficient solutions for operating the ships; Kempower – for charging electric vehicles aboard the vessels; and
ÅAU will evaluate the societal benefits of the green corridor. Fuel for the zero-carbon transport is planned to be produced locally in Southwest Finland. The parties hope to turn Viking Line’s StockholmTurku service, which crosses the Åland Islands, into a carbon-neutral crossing by 2027. The company’s flagships, the gas-run Viking Glory and Viking Grace, operate on the route. •
SCANDLINES’ ZERO-EMISSION FERRY TO HAVE A DIGITAL CLIMATE TWIN • Using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the Danish climate tech start-up ReFlow will develop a digital twin of the under-construction ro-pax. The detailed life cycle model will represent the ferry from her construction to the end of life, including installed equipment. Scandlines will use the digital climate twin to run simulations on the use of new green technology. Already several maritime original equipment manufacturers can send their LCA calculations. According to the ferry line and ReFlow, 18 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
this “[...] makes it possible to cut the time and cost associated with a life cycle assessment of the products by over 80% compared to traditional manual approaches.” The Turkish Cemre Shipyard is working at the 147.4 by 25.4 m double-ended hybrid ferry, expected to enter traffic between Puttgarden and Rødby in 2024 and offer 1,200 lane metres for freight and room for 140 passengers. The newbuild will feature 10MWh of battery capacity, recharged in Denmark in 17 minutes. •
CHART OF THE ISSUE
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Visiting the ports in Ystad, Trelleborg, Oxelösund, Karlshamn, and Södertälje – sustainably!
BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki We sit in front of our screens most of the time, handling emails, keeping our websites and social media updated, and writing and editing various bits and pieces so that you can take hold of another edition of our journal. It is all fine and dandy, sometimes even artful, but a special kind of ‘magic’ happens when the things we write about stand before our eyes. Thanks to our Partners – and the lifting of corona-induced travel restrictions – we could once more embark on a BTJ Trip. This year’s destination was Sweden where at the turn of August and September, we visited the ports of Ystad, Trelleborg, Oxelösund, Karlshamn, and Södertälje. As the country is quite unique in its approach to sustainability (in Nyköping, Przemek Myszka bought a cooking book where portions had their CO2e calculated!), we decided to make the journey as eco-friendly as possible. Day 1: by rail to Świnoujście and by ferry to Ystad The 2022 instalment of BTJ Trip was divided into two parts, totting up to some 3,000 km. The first leg saw us taking a train from Gdynia to Świnoujście. While Poland is still heavily reliant upon fossil fuels for electricity production, in the two voivodeships
we went through, Pomeranian and West Pomeranian, over 50% of power comes from renewables. We arrived in Świnoujście late in the afternoon on 28 August, eventually making our way to the Ferry Terminal Świnoujście.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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The port authority has been focusing on increasing Świnoujście’s wheeled cargo handling for the past couple of years, including within an EU-supported project executed with the Port of Ystad (over €132m, including nearly €35m from the block). We sincerely hope that the investments will also trickle down to upgrade the experience of private travellers, especially those footing it. Polferries and Unity Line are working on their three brand-new ferries (room for 400 passengers and 4,100 lane metres for trucks & trailers) to improve the ŚwinoujścieTrelleborg-Ystad ‘rolling’ corridor (as of 2025-2027), so the newbuilds might attract new tourists. Other things aside, it is praiseworthy that there are information boards in Ukrainian at the terminal (shelter, legal advice, etc.). The ferry lines serving PolandSweden traffic got engaged in helping our eastern neighbours from the very start of Russia’s war of aggression. After a long day, we rested our heads, hoping for at least some beauty sleep ahead of the early berthing in Ystad. Similar to Świnoujście’s terminal, our ferry accommodated commercial passengers’ needs much more than those of private travellers. But heyho, it safely got us over the crossing between the two countries! Day 1 checked off!
BTJ TRIP Day 2: Ystad and by rail to Trelleborg Although relatively small, the facility in Ystad was cosy enough for us to do some work whilst waiting to visit the port authority and partaking in the official handover of the new ferry berths (in use since the break of 2020 and 2021 – well, you know, COVID-19). The new infrastructure enables taking care of 240 m long ferries (which additionally can draw their energy from the shore, sparing the environment harmful emissions and the neighbourhood – some noise). Some 290k m3 of dredged material was used for turning the sea into the new quay, plus around 671kt of boulders-turned-breakwaters. Most construction materials, such as steel sheets, profiles, pipes, etc., were carried by sea and unloaded at a quay expressly set up for building the new infrastructure. The port says that stone transports would alone tot up to 35k trucks. New paving was made out of concrete – more expensive than asphalt. Ystad argues it is worth the effort: the lighter surface demands less lighting (LEDs with twilight relay and time control), is more durable, and causes less wear & tear to lorry tyres. The new quay likewise breakwaters
Photo: Przemysław Myszka
Photo: Simon Paulin/Image Bank Sweden
are high enough to withstand severe weather conditions. The Port of Ystad was polite enough to allow us to leave our luggage in the authority’s building, after which we made a gentle stroll through the quaint streets of Ystad. We were back just in time for the bus to take us to the new infrastructure – which we already saw from aloft on our way to the port. It was cloudy, it was windy, it was chilly – yet everybody was merry when the seaport’s Managing Director, Björn Boström, got things running (with ‘our’ Mazovia of Polferries in the background). As a testament to the port’s investment and plans, especially passenger-wise, Viking Line’s Viking
Cinderella called to one of the new berths during the event, dropping off travellers on an intra-Baltic cruise. Shortly afterwards, we were picked up and ‘unloaded’ at the port office for a chat with Björn (which you can find as a separate read within the BTJ Trip coverage). After the interview and bidding farewell to Ystad’s staff, Przemek Myszka’s Swedish came in handy while trying to find out how to buy paper tickets for cash in the country (as it turned out, both are pretty obsolete in Sweden, at least in this regard). After a tasty food truck meal, we hopped onto a train and headed for Trelleborg via Malmö. Day 2 was done & dusted!
Photo: Port of Ystad
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BTJ TRIP Day 3: Trelleborg and by rail & bus to Oxelösund The next day brought about a new seaport – and weather! The sun showed up in time for a(n) (electric) car ride within the Port of Trelleborg with its CEO, Jörgen Nilsson, and Communications Manager, Petronella Ljungh. It was an exceptional tour as Jörgen showed us the port’s past, present, and future. We began our tour through the soon-to-be handed-over premises, which the city will turn into a residential area (the Kuststad 2025 project). This April, the port took four new berths into operation. Since the expansion started, Trelleborg’s seaport made Sweden longer (by 550 m south), built 3.0 km of breakwaters, used 600kt of stone (shipped from the nearby Halmstad), dredged 1.7m m3, and reclaimed 50 hectares from the sea. All told, Trelleborg’s quay wall counts 5.4 km now. Before long, new yards, check-in, port entrance, and access road from the east side will follow suit. If all goes according to the plan, Trelleborg will also take over the overthe-fence railroads (nowadays governmen-
Photo: Canva
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tal property) and make them part of its future intermodal offering. After that, we headed to the ferry berths, seasoned and brand-new ones, to see trucks & trailers going to and fro the ships (including the not-so-long-ago jumboised Peter Pan). We also went to the outermost berthing position, now used for handling break-bulk and project cargo (just before the BTJ Trip, news broke out that Trelleborg will take care of some 300-400kt of... Denmark-bound sugar beet on behalf of Nordic Sugar). We also drove to see the port’s new head office, the Waterfront, taking shape. On the way there, we could also spot the port’s photovoltaic farm (1,296 panels spread across 2,200 m2) basking in the sun. In the period 1 September 2020-9 August 2022, the system produced one million kWh (around half of the new port’s energy demand). Jörgen said they will further invest in harvesting solar energy: the Waterfront will have panels installed, while the port is also looking into floating solutions. While
heading towards the rail terminal, Przemek Opłocki noticed many trees planted throughout the new port premises, starkly contrasting with the concrete and asphalt landscape. Jörgen nodded and remarked that Trelleborg would be green also in the most direct way. After the ride, we were invited to the authority’s current seat; placed at the building’s top, it has gorgeous timbering, giving the whole place a modern loft look. We then sat with cups of coffee for the interview. Having some spare time before going to the train station, we wandered through the streets to stretch our legs before what appeared to be a looong ride up north. With changeovers in Malmö and Norrköping, we landed in Nyköping several hours later (oh gosh, the views outside the train windows!). “Public” stands for sustainability, so we took a local bus to Oxelösund. Finally, late in the afternoon, we checked in, roved for a while, and dined. Day 3 was signed & sealed!
BTJ TRIP Day 4: Oxelösund
Photo: Przemysław Myszka
While the town is more or less at the same latitude as Scotland’s Forsinard Flows or the northern tip of Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador, the weather was stunning! Locked and loaded (and high on local forest- and skerry-infused oxygen – better than double espresso!), we set foot for the port. We did that earlier than planned as the Port of Oxelösund’s CEO, Douglas Heilborn, asked whether we could meet ahead of time as Wednesday was his last day as the seaport’s top dog. After 17 years of work – talk about experience! If you are reading this, Douglas, once more from us: we wish you nothing but fair winds and following seas, and thanks for your support throughout the years! We first sat in the authority’s conference room for a presentation by Fredrik Nikander, the port’s Marketing and Sales Director, and an interview with the two gents. We then got clothed in bonny security vests and helmets and departed for a farewell party. It was emotional, it was of course organised in a port warehouse (the weight of a single steel coil is impressive!), it was Swedish/‘Oxelösund-ian:’ we were served smörgåstårta, which stands
Photo: SSAB
for sandwich cake, a traditional meal for biding somebody working in the port goodbye. Once Douglas was thanked and handed gifts, we hopped with him and Fredrik for a seaport tour. While we use the term “port” in relation to various entities that all handle seaand land-borne freight (and passenger) traffic, the contrast between the ferry ports Ystad and Trelleborg and the industrial Oxelösund couldn’t be more striking. Sure, Oxelösund also takes care of wheeled cargo (containers, too). Still, by far and large, the seaport draws upon its expertise in handling various dry bulk (with some liquids for good measure) and break-bulk goods such as waste from the UK for co-generation, recycling paper, other forest products, grains (wheat, canola, flaxseed), coal, limestone, salt, various types of iron (e.g. pig) and steel, wood pellets, you name it! But what was most noticeable, they also handle iron ore together with other materials from Earth’s belly. We both took some rusty, soil-covered, and fairly heavy ‘pebbles’ as keepsakes (you won’t buy these in your run-of-the-mill souvenir shop!). No wonder: the year-round ice-free Oxelösund can serve the largest dry bulkers
entering the Baltic (the dry bulk quay offers 388 m of 16.5 m deep berthing length). The port also eyes attracting larger freighters for unitised cargo, with the planned investment blueprinted to accommodate ships as big as Wallenius SOL’s newbuilds of the Enablerclass (242 by 35.2 m, 6,442 lane metres of carrying capacity). After a short break to visit Oxelösund’s ICA, where we could stock up on environmentally friendly round knäckebröd (crispbread with CO2e/packet calculations!) and coffee (Rainforest Alliance-certified), we were picked up and dropped off in Nyköping to stitch tomorrow’s logistics up. And fortunately so! We were lucky to check SJ’s rail site in advance, only to discover that all but one link for tomorrow’s journey to Karlshamn was sold out... We scrambled to find the nearest ticket-selling stand. Merry as crickets that we got our passage secured, we visited a nearby bookshop as Przemek Myszka was on a hunt for a vegan recipe book to hone his Swedish cooking skills. Happily back in Oxelösund again (and again by bus), we called it a day. And what a day it was indeed!
Photo: Port of Oxelösund
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BTJ TRIP Days 5 & 6: by rail to Karlshamn, by rail to Karlskrona, and by ferry to Gdynia
Photo: Port of Karlshamn
Since the Port of Karlshamn’s CEO, Mats Olsson, was in Klaipėda partaking in launching new infrastructure that was readied to accommodate DFDS’ newbuilds for the KarlshamnKlaipėda service, we had the entire Thursday to get ourselves from mid- to south Sweden again. It required a bus and four trains, but we arrived in Karlshamn safe and sound. Truly, the country’s passenger rail services (of different operators) deserve a pat on the back! All in all, the first scents of autumn air could be sensed as the sun set behind the horizon, igniting the pewter clouds with amber and crimson. While Ystad and Trelleborg are fully fledged ferry ports, Oxelösund an industrial seaport, Karlshamn sits in-between. The remarkable Aura Seaways ro-pax of DFDS welcomed us as we approached the port authority, where we first sat with Mats for a talk. We then got once more dressed up in stylish neon yellow to hop for a car tour in and around the port. It allowed us to experience the heavy-duty part of Karlshamn: wind turbine components, forest products, and liquid bulk (particularly liquid petroleum gas). We also saw the entryway to the famous Swedish oil caverns (back in Oxelösund, Przemek Myszka was presented with a 125th port anniversary book to polish his Swedish, and one of the photos was taken inside such a facility – remarkable!). What was unique about the visit to Karlshamn is that we spent a portion of the time driving outside the port, with Mats showing us all the logistics property projects – already up & running, under construction, or planned. Similar to Ystad and Trelleborg, Karlshamn has also invested considerably in expanding its ferry harbour. The new no. 3 ro-ro berth is completed, the same for upgrading the existing no. 2 (dredging, seabed works, widening of the link-span). As a result, Karlshamn can accommodate ferries up to 230 m in length, such as the two newbuilds of DFDS: Aura Seaways and Luna Seaways. The new infrastructure also features semi-automatic mooring and an onshore power supply. 24 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
Meanwhile, on the logistics side of the port business, not so long ago CH Square and Swedish Logistic Property exercised their options to develop additional land in Karlshamn – in the direct vicinity of the port and its rail terminal. The former, which should have finished a 23k m2 logistics centre on behalf of DFDS by 2022end, will develop an additional 50k m2 in the southern part of Stilleryd in the Municipality of Karlshamn. At the same time, the latter decided to develop an extra 25k m2 in Stilleryd, too. Afterwards, we make ourselves comfortable in the port’s cafeteria for a fika, a tradi-
tional Swedish timeout (naturally, with coffee and cinnamon rolls!), discovering Mats’ connection with Poland as his wife comes from there (and their children speak Polish). We talked about the days of yore and how things changed over the past couple of decades. Following that, we collected our belongings from our overnight stop, lost and luckily found Przemek Opłocki’s mobile, and departed for our last train during this trip, the one heading to Karlskrona. We went for an airing there, dined, and arrived at the ferry terminal by bus. Everything went super smooth, and we could board Stena Line’s Stena Spirit the next instant. The Swedish ferry company was kind enough to barter a Superior-class cabin, which made the journey back after such an exhaustive week all the more relaxing. Kudos, Stena Line! We left Sweden with a beautiful sunset seeing us off. Early in the morning, we breakfasted like kings and disembarked at Gdynia’s new Public Ferry Terminal. The first part of the BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden was put to bed! A Big Thank You to all the wonderful people we met and whose hospitality made this expedition worthwhile. Tack och ha det bra! Vi ses!
Photo: DFDS
Photo: Per Pixel Petersson/Image Bank Sweden
BTJ TRIP Part 2: Södertälje The first part of the BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden ended at Sweden’s southern tip in Karlskrona. The other leg saw Przemek Opłocki visiting Södertälje in the middle of the country. The 77k citizen-big town, birthplace of the world-class tennis player Björn Rune Borg, belongs to the Stockholm Region. The morning flight brought Przemek to the Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where he boarded a train heading to Södertälje. Around noon, he made it to the port authority. The Port of Södertälje is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telge AB, which, in turn, sits within the Municipality of Södertälje. The seaport is comprised of four harbours: Bränslehamnen (taking care of liquid bulk such as petrol, diesel, heating oil, and asphalt), Uthamnen (dry bulk, chiefly grains), Igelstahamnen (supplying the co-generation plant), and Sydhamnen (container traffic and finished vehicle logistics; the latter ‘fuels’ the port with 120k cars/year, including half of Volkswagen’s Swedish imports). The tour started with lunch in the town square with Per Fredman, the port’s VP of Sales and Marketing & Member of the Management Team. During it, he underlined Södertälje’s ambition to become an environmentally friendly port, 100% driven by renewables. Before visiting the port’s premises, we paid a visit to Stockholm Syd, a joint invest-
Photos: Port of Södertälje
ment of the Södertälje and Nykvarn municipalities. It is a logistics park close to the E4 and E20 roads (some 30 minutes away from Sweden’s capital), with 1.0m m2 for development. Among the companies that have already acquired their plots or are planning to do so are IKEA, DB Schenker, and Budbee (a Swedish tech/logistics/parcel/e-commerce venture). What was meant as a stroll along the port’s quays ended in a car ride, as the weather encouraged us to have a solid roof over our heads. A container train was passing above when we went through a gate. Meanwhile, Per was talking about Södertälje’s investment plans: adding to the quay wall and improving the rail infrastructure. We then saw
yards stacked with prefabricated housing modules (shipped from Asia), a new reachstacker, and mobile harbour cranes (more details in the accompanying interview). We rounded things up with a coffee-led fika (of course!) and a commemorative photo (posted on LinkedIn under #BTJTrip). The flight back home dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s (both flights were carbon-offset to uphold the sustainability thread accompanying us throughout the escapade). All said & done, it was a remarkable, unabridged experience. Once more, a tip of the hat to our Partners who expended their time and went the extra mile to show us their seaports! 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 25
Interview with Björn Boström, Managing Director, the Port of Ystad
No day like the other by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki During the latest BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden, we conducted a few interviews, the first being with Björn Boström, our long-standing Partner, who has been managing the seaport in Ystad for over 14 years. We talked, among others, about the port’s newest investments and plans, the (unexpected) impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the rationale behind doing things in a green way, and the particulars of finding port workers. You are approaching one and a half decades in the port industry. What are your feelings about that? Is it easy or challenging to employ people in the sector today? Indeed, ports are very special places. I have been working all my life in the transport industry, starting in the ferry business at 14 with a summer docker job. In other words, it has been from the jetty to a port’s head office career. Shipping, likewise port operations, is extremely fun to deal with. One day isn’t like the other. Having a schedule comes in handy – to make sport of yourself at the end of the day that completely different things and problems had to be tackled. Nowadays, it is very challenging to hire the right person for the port business. On the positive side, dockers tend to stay till retirement. On the one hand, you have a person that accumulates a wealth of experience throughout the years. On the other, one could reply, how to inject young blood into the system if seasoned personnel fills all the positions? A proper mix is the best solution, therefore. That said, sometimes, a port cannot offer fixed, full-time employment from day one. Even if you find someone willing to become a port worker, they may realise that a permanent job, doing something different, might suit them better in the short term. Still, if one is truly committed, the port industry will approach that person with a good offer. Then again, with fairly low unemployment levels and all that head-hunting from other industries, it can get pretty expensive to just look for a suitable worker. To rub salt into the wounds, Sweden’s transport & logistics sector is more or less transparent to the public eye. Whereas there aren’t so many shipping lines flying the country’s flag, we have 52 commercial seaports – all the way from the border with Norway to the one with Finland. These are just 9,000 people, of which one-third are white, and two-thirds are blue collar. However, they are responsible for taking care of 90-95% of Sweden’s export & import. Not to sound too bold, but the state’s industries depend on us. The port strike that started in Gothenburg several years ago vividly showed how fragile the system could be. 26 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
How about COVID-19? Passenger traffic plummeted across the (Baltic) board. Was it the same for you? The pandemic gave us new records – and believe it or not, also on the passenger side of things. The Polish route saw a decrease due to travel restrictions. Conversely, the Bornholm service practically boomed. While it is a Danish island, many Danes view it as exotic. As a result, it was a perfect destination for a staycation. Denmark’s state was supportive, too. The cabinet acknowledged that its citizens won’t be ‘lykke’ should they stay indoors till kingdom come, even if their houses and apartments are top-notch ‘hygge.’ Promoting domestic tourism was henceforth made one of the priorities. Ferry lines, for example, received money from the state for lowering the ticket prices or, in the case of services connecting remote locations, entirely free. Our figures benefited from that as about 97% of Bornholm’s traffic goes via our port. Funnily enough, the pandemic made Ystad one of Denmark’s largest domestic seaports. Meanwhile, the government in Stockholm closed down all borders ahead of Christmas 2020... Many Danish families were deprived of the possibility to spend that time with their closest ones – either travelling by ferry or transiting the region of Skåne. Together with the municipality, we got engaged in lobbying, which eventually led the Swedish and Danish governments to realise that there must be transit options should this situation occur again. Increased ferry cruise traffic is yet another side-effect of COVID-19. The cruises between Helsinki and Stockholm were brought to a halt by the pandemic. The shipping lines found themselves in dire straits – ships and crews to upkeep but nowhere to go. Talks from the past were revived, and intra-Baltic cruise itineraries, such as StockholmMariehamn-Visby-Ystad, were set up before long. Luckily, this coincided with the launching of our new ferry berths. Earlier, we simply couldn’t serve those cruise ferries. As you witnessed during the ceremony, taking in Viking Line’s Viking Cinderella was smooth
sailing. About one year ago, we hosted Silja Symphony of the Tallink & Silja Line, the biggest vessel ever to call Ystad. Cargo-wise, traffic was more affected by ship repositioning rather than us putting in place new infrastructure or the pandemic. For example, capacity was lost because Polferries laid up Nova Star and moved Baltivia onto the Gdańsk-Nynäshamn service. In effect, the 2020 result for trucks & trailers wasn’t all shiny. Then again, 2021 returned with a vengeance. The new infrastructure allowed FRS Baltic to launch the so-called King’s Line in September 2020. Their ship started berthing at Polferries’ former place, while the Polish line moved to one of the new berths. This, of course, wouldn’t be possible as all capacity would be taken without the new quay. FRS Baltic added noticeably to our spreadsheet’s passenger and private cars columns (mainly Germans and those with camper vans). And how might things develop in the foreseeable future? First, we trust that Polferries and Unity Line’s newbuilds will make good use of our latest investment. Naturally, the new ferries will benefit us. Still, Poland’s ferry business will be the biggest winner. I keep my fingers crossed for the newbuilding project to follow through. Otherwise, it might as well be the beginning of its end. Unfortunately, I must stress. Second-hand ferries are, well, second-hand ferries only. It is, therefore, the chance for them to bring their operations to the next level. Second, southern Sweden suffers from inadequate port-hinterland connectivity. As a seaport, it is beyond our reach to invest in roads & railways outside our premises. Call it lobbying, PR, or business development – it all boils down to convincing those with the authority and funds that the country will be better off if it is easier to reach Ystad by road & rail. In anticipation of the Swedish Transport Administration making favourable decisions, we have begun working on the ‘Next Big Thing’ for our port, namely another ferry berth. The works are in the initial phase, but maybe one tailored to fast ferries would be a sound investment.
BTJ TRIP The port authority is also investigating producing its power through harvesting solar energy. Wind energy is another option, but it is small-scale only. Wave energy would be great, too. Regarding the new gas-driven Polish ferries, there is also room in our port to install a fixed LNG-filling station with a higher capacity than tank trucks. Providing locallysourced bioLNG would be even better. The investment would, however, have to come from a third party, as we aren’t a fuel supplier. Are the talks about a potential port authority merger with Trelleborg still on the table?
Tell us more about the latest investments, especially those elements that are invisible to the naked eye. We strived to make the new quay investment as sustainable as possible: for the environment and economy’s sake. With the municipality (responsible for the project) having limited funds, value for money was our guiding principle. That said, taking care of the environment was a top priority, too. Fortunately enough, the eco-way of doing things was often the better solution. For instance, we decided to opt for a surface made of hexa stones instead of asphalt. Future-wise, it will save us a lot of money on maintenance. In the past, we spent around one million Swedish crowns per year on new asphalt. Thus far, the stones haven’t generated any costs – and the quay has been in operation for over one and a half years. If something breaks, we can – and by “we,” I mean the port’s staff – mend the damage ourselves. For asphalt, you need an external company to come in. This one billion Swedish crown investment, which received the single biggest grant from the EU among all Swedish seaports ever, includes the ferry berths as well as dredging, new breakwaters, and a land area made available for future activities. As such, the next project won’t be as big, say four hundred million – tops, because we have already set up the core infrastructure. Climate change-wise, we also raised the new port areas to make provision for the increased sea level. Estimates speak of one more meter in the Baltic by century-end. And I must also underscore that the whole port offers onshore power supply to limit
shipping emissions and noise pollution. The escalating electricity prices in southern Sweden certainly do not gladden us. Still, to keep Ystad clean, so to say, we cover the spread so that three of the four ferries with daily calls continue to ‘plug in.’ I hope Polferries’ Cracovia will be equipped to draw power from the shore. The port is eco-friendly itself. Our vehicle fleet is either 100% electric or runs on renewable diesel (HVO). Regarding the latter, there are only two pieces of machinery we dare not to run on HVO. First is our workboat, whose engine is old, and nobody knows how it will react. That said, we don’t use it all that much. The other is our crane, also quite advanced in years. We cannot afford to lose it, as the fines for not discharging a vessel would be crushing.
Not at the moment. The concept is doable; carrying it out might be tricky from a legal/ market perspective, meaning not breaking any anti-competition laws, Swedish or EU’s. Then again, the voice of a united port authority would echo more strongly through decision-making corridors. Maybe we could, in that way, secure the hinterland connectivity investments to both Ystad and Trelleborg. Daily operations wouldn’t be all that affected. We could, among others, swap dockers if needed. Do you have any digital investments in store? Together with Unity Line, we are in a middle of a terminal operating system trial. If successfully implemented, the solution will allow us, the lines, and forwarders to better track trucks & trailers and the movement thereof. We will also install a plate recognition system to automate the flow. Notably, one needs to have the shipowners aboard such data interchange projects.
Photo: Port of Ystad
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Interview with Jörgen Nilsson, CEO, the Port of Trelleborg
From tomorrow’s to today’s port by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki In Trelleborg, we were taken on a port tour where we could see how the port has already changed, as well as how it will do so shortly. We then sat with its Chief Exec, Jörgen Nilsson, to dig into the details. We talked about the pandemic’s impact on the seaport, the various construction works in and outside of it, the port’s focus on the environment, and the once-on-the-table proposal of merging with Ystad (and why there are more pressing issues than that). It is common in Sweden for the municipality to eye its port’s premises, mainly for turning them into a waterfront residential area. Trelleborg isn’t different, as the town works on the Kuststad 2025 project that will take over the west- and central parts of today’s Port of Trelleborg. What is your relationship with the municipality? Are you still using those areas?
Meanwhile, some 21% more ferry travellers, around 700 thousand, went through our quays, which isn’t bad either. We can keep up with the pace owing to our stevedoring services. For example, we have 20 tug masters, and the fleet is never older than three years. These are also eco-friendly, running on renewable diesel, the so-called HVO100. It is more expensive than fossil, but we are committed to saving the environment.
We enjoy a win-win affair. The only ‘headache’ we have is that we are ahead of our schedule by one year, while they are one or even two years behind theirs. We still use the ‘old port’ facilities, among others, for storing paper – including a logistics centre for handling big paper rolls coming by rail from Stora Enso and BillerudKorsnäs for the German and Polish markets. Interestingly enough, we also provide mooring and storage for all sorts of private boats, among them luxurious ones (as the Danes and Germans don’t have to pay taxes if their vessels stay here for over half a year, which is quite convenient). A large lorry parking area is also used during the weekends. On Fridays, we take care of up to seven ferries concurrently, meaning that seven hundred drivers and their trucks can rest having the seaside in front of them. The fee is almost nothing, three euros per night, and truckers can feel safe and use amenities like showers and surf the internet thanks to free Wi-Fi.
What is the progress of turning ‘Tomorrow’s Port’ into ‘Today’s Port?’
How did you fare during the coronavirus pandemic? It was a bit crazy. We lost noticeable volumes of wheeled cargo at the beginning: 17% in April 2020, 12% in May, and around 2% in June. After that, however, the traffic only climbed up. We closed that year with a 1.7% increase. In 2021, we welcomed about one hundred thousand more trucks & trailers, a yearly increase of 13%, which only cemented our position as the Baltic’s largest ro-ro port. On the other hand, passenger traffic suffered quite a bit. Our freight traffic for this year’s first half was more or less on par with H1 2021. 28 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
Since 2014, we have built half a million square metres, literally making Sweden a bit bigger. Adding space and quays is one thing, but logistically organising it – is another, equally if not more important, piece of the puzzle. We have deployed Hogia’s terminal operating system, while the photo and licence plate recognition system allows for automating the flow of trucks. TT-Line is at the forefront here, and we hope other ferry lines will follow suit. Lane metres-wise, the company’s Nils Holgersson is the biggest vessel calling our port (4,800 lm), and we can handle her as fast as other ferries. Naturally, modern superstructure comes in handy – like a linkspan system allowing to simultaneously handle TT-Line’s ships from three sides. In the future, each lorry should be automatically guided, with a mobile app the sole tool the trucker needs. We still take care of conventional railway traffic brought by ferries, but this is as different as chalk and cheese regarding cargo handling smoothness. The investment in four 250 m long berths made it possible to welcome the biggest ferries operating in the Baltic in the first place. The outermost fifth quay, 500 m long, can accommodate ferries, ro-ros, and other vessel types. During the port tour, we saw a ship unloading water pipes. Shortly afterwards, Nordic Sugar will ship sugar beets to Denmark. This berth would be ideal for a shipping company coming to Trelleborg to take all the cargo units from Germany, Lithuania and Poland to central/northern Sweden.
Though our seaport now covers roughly 1.2 million m2, the works on Tomorrow’s Port haven’t been finished. We hope that Unity Line will move to future berths with their newbuilds. In the interim, the high-speed King’s Line of FRS Baltic will return to us, linking Trelleborg with Sassnitz. In addition, we want to take over the currently unused rail tracks just outside the port’s fence. We believe it would up our intermodal traffic from today’s 34 thousand to at least 100 thousand trailers annually. Our brand-new reachstacker is more than eager to handle the increased traffic. We also keep our fingers crossed tightly for Świnoujście to ramp up their intermodal offering. You have recently been granted EU funds for two projects. What are they about? The project with Lübeck and TT-Line covers what we have already done at berths 10 & 11, in addition to an extra ramp at the latter, trailer parking places, a digital tool for precise geopositioning of trailers, and a data exchange solution between the two seaports and the ferry company. The other project concerns upgrading the intermodal offer by lengthening the tracks to make railcar repositioning easier. It also includes the permit application for two wind turbines, up to 120 m tall, so that we can draw even more renewable power, and a grey & black water cleaning station. Summing up, they are about efficiency and sustainability. Are there any other projects, maybe outside the port, you look forward to materialising? We talked off the record about Swedish politics, and the interesting thing here is that municipalities can insert votes on local affairs alongside nationwide elections. In Trelleborg, we will ask the voters whether the new port access road should come from the west or the east [the latter was picked – Przemek Myszka]. We will pay for it one way or another, so we need the green light only. Farther into the hinterland, we are waiting for the ring road. The municipality agreed to provide funds for it. However, we are a TEN-T
BTJ TRIP Core Port; it would be delightful to see the state backing us up on that. What is your take on the idea of merging Trelleborg and Ystad? It is on the shelf, and as far as I can see, it will remain there. When I started as the port’s CEO in the autumn of 2017, I voiced my scepticism. We could continue the talks, but I had one condition: let’s do due diligence. Ystad got engaged in a huge EU project in the meantime, saying they would continue on their own, which was perfectly fine, in my opinion. On the surface, we both are ferry ports. The devil is in the details: our offer is tailored to trucks & trailers; Ystad’s great for passengers to Bornholm (recently also cruise). We will invest around 140 million euros in developing our seaport. According to our calculations, we will have to handle shiploads of wheeled cargo to see the return on investment. And we will, judging by the volumes. We have rolled up our sleeves in this regard, and you can see this by looking at the numbers: we handle more ro-ro cargo units than all the nearby Swedish seaports combined. The war in Ukraine will undoubtedly hit us in the short term; this and next year may be flat. That said, we should reach the one-millionunit threshold in 2024 (including more by rail, given the truck driver shortage). Another difference is ownership, hence who puts money on the table. In Trelleborg, it is us, in other ports it’s the municipality. It enabled us to take forward swap, meaning that
we know exactly how much money we will have to return each year comes – a decade ahead. It is different when a municipality takes a loan; when the rent goes up, the port – the lessee – has to cover the spread. All told, the only viable merger solution would be for the ports of Trelleborg and Ystad to be sold to a third party. Neither one can own the other. Leaving the merger topic aside, I think we will have more pressing questions to address. Returning production to Europe from China will be one. Reshoring is already
taking place, with manufacturing plants appearing in Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia. In Poland and Sweden, too, to mention the battery giga-factories only. This is good news for the European ro-ro market, particularly the Poland-Sweden corridor. That is why we will need the new Polish ferries – for calling us and, guess what, Ystad. The seaports could also up the ante by adding more ro-ro capacity. It would only grow the market for all of us. Otherwise, we might end up cannibalising each other in the hunt for the limited traffic.
Photo: Port of Trelleborg
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Interview with Douglas Heilborn, CEO, and Fredrik Nikander, Marketing and Sales Director, the Port of Oxelösund
Much more than just quays by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki The third port visit during the BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden brought us to Oxelösund, a distinctly different seaport than Ystad and Trelleborg. Feeling the industrial, heavy-duty vibe all around us, we sat with the port’s Douglas Heilborn and Fredrik Nikander. We discussed what is currently happening in the port, its development plans, the impact of high inflation and war on transport, and Oxelösund’s employment co-op with Eterni Sweden. Can you walk us through Oxelösund and why it calls itself the All Inclusive Port? Everything is in-house: the Port of Oxelösund owns the infrastructure, is responsible for stevedoring, and acts as the port authority. The structure is horizontal and open: white and blue collars meet to discuss all kinds of issues. As such, we keep the decision-making process short & sweet. There are, of course, managerial levels. What is unique is that we don’t just sit behind desks; all managers are very operational – boots on the ground, in other words. SSAB’s steel export port, railconnected to the company’s other mill in Borlänge, would be the only exception: they own it – we take care of the operations. While Oxelösund is a universal seaport, dry bulk and break-bulk are our core strengths. We have the conditions to welcome and the means to handle the largest bulkers entering the Baltic Sea. We take care of direct overseas shipments to and from Oxelösund as well as regional transit traffic. We are ice-free all year round, meaning that large ocean-going, deep-sea vessels without an ice class can call to our berths, from which hull-strengthened vessels distribute the freight northward. Ship-to-ship transhipment is no problem in Oxelösund. Containers are an addition, including ones shipped atop dry bulk carrier hatches. The bulk and break-bulk goods we handle are as varied as they come: iron ore, steel and aluminium products, alloys, scrap metal, expanded clay aggregate, boulders, limestone, cement, plastics, salt, raw materials for the nearby SSAB’s plant (mainly carried by conveyors), solid (coal, biomass) and liquid fuels (which can be stored in oil caverns), grains & foodstuff, and project cargo from time to time, to name a few. There are also many manufacturing and processing companies based in the port, taking advantage of immediate access to sea transport. It has been an ongoing development for the past 20 years. One of the latest entrants is a grinding company producing cement material; it is an import & export player, meaning that it uses our quays twice, which makes us likewise environment happy. Last but not least, our latest 30 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
investments are open-style warehouses, providing excellent ventilation. That is, in fact, one of our key selling points: fast truck haulage for the goods arriving at or departing from our port on long sea routes. The alternative is taking a short sea bridge, say to southern Sweden, and then a long haul to one of the major consumer/production centres like Stockholm. We see that the former is gaining traction in Sweden with developments such as Wallenius SOL’s huge newbuilds that cross the Baltic north-south or the Nynäshamn-Rostock crossing by Hansa Destinations. There are other options worth exploring that make environmental sense. For instance, we included waste in our application needed to double Oxelösund’s handling capacity. It has become more and more of a resource. In Sweden, some 90% of a demolished house is recycled. Contaminated soil can also be cleaned and regenerated. These are our future handling goods. We already handle paper for recycling. It comes collected from all over mid-Sweden, ready for shipping on cassettes to Umeå once a week (about two thousand tonnes). There, it becomes new cardboard. We also receive waste-fuel from the UK for co-generation. It is a peculiar ‘upside down economy’ commodity, in the sense that the British pay to dispose of it. As you can see in the photos outside the window and during the car ride, a port like ours is much more than just the quays. It is
an import-export, manufacturing, processing, logistics, and warehousing powerhouse that enables trade hundreds of kilometres into the hinterland. It also facilitates the green transition by opting for sea shipping, including waste-turned-resource. What do you have in store for the future? The application will establish our operational & developmental framework for the next two or three decades. It also includes a new ro-ro berth, designed based on Wallenius SOL’s Enabler-class measurements. Another development will be joining the outer and inner berths for greater quay length, thus capacity. We will also have an LNG (better still: bioLNG) terminal, as we can observe an increased demand from different sides: the industry and shipping. In mid-August 2022, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK-based Avenir LNG for the development & building of the facility. Avenir LNG intends to acquire a 100% stake in OxGas AB, the port’s wholly-owned dedicated project company that has secured all environmental and construction permits required for erecting the up to 30 thousand cubic metres terminal. We are also investigating the provision of onshore power supply. In contrast to harbours serving the same vessels every time, it is a bit tricky for a port like ours that handles
Photos: Port of Öxelösund
BTJ TRIP volumes, a few thousand tonnes per year, fertiliser imports ceased altogether. This year’s first half closed with an increase of almost one-third, totalling just over three million tonnes, mainly thanks to the yearly 76% rise in dry bulk turnover. Can you tell us more about your cooperation with Eterni Sweden?
a ‘changing’ fleet. That said, one of our regular clients, ESL Shipping, has ordered vessels with a clear focus on the environment. These could be a fitting match for cold ironing in Oxelösund. Speaking of ESL, it is worth noting that their gas-run vessels come to us and are bunkered here. What is more, some ships have pretty noisy machinery. If we could turn it off by ‘plugging them in,’ we could handle more vessels at night – without disturbing our neighbours. Luckily, there are very few complaints about noise, smell and dust given the bulk character of our operations.
How have the latest challenges, the war and inflation, affected your seaport? We run all of our machinery that can operate on it on HVO, the price of which went up even more than that of standard diesel. At the beginning of the year, companies stockpiled raw materials. It was not only to source the goods from other than Russian destinations but also to test their quality. As a result, imports and transhipment (particularly to Finland) for H1 2022 increased significantly. Though relatively small in
Traditionally, we used hourly workers for peak needs. Though well-paying, this employment method, unfortunately, provided them with no security over whether there will be work for them in the future. Longer-term scheduling was an issue, too. It was challenging to fix workers for summer jobs, as they were keener on getting jobs here & now. This system generated too much uncertainty; thus, we decided to stop using it. Here comes Eterni Sweden, which employs the workers full-time; hence they are covered by social security all the time. The company assigns them to us if need be. We provide the working hours, equipment, and training (especially health, safety, and risk awareness). It works very well, particularly if one, like us, offers 24/7 operations. Not all in the Nordic region can do that.
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Interview with Mats Olsson, CEO, the Port of Karlshamn
The proper perspective by Przemysław Myszka and Przemysław Opłocki On the last day of the first part of BTJ Trip 2022 \ Sweden, we visited the Port of Karlshamn’s Mats Olsson to talk about the latest developments, especially the new and upgraded ro-ro berths. We also looked into the port’s plans, the investments needed, how the pandemic and the war altered operations in Karlshamn, and how different logistics establishments have mushroomed in the port’s neighbourhood. Let us start with the latest development: upgrading the port’s capacity for handling wheeled cargo. We were in quite a rush with our ro-ro investments to have everything in place ahead of DFDS deploying their new Baltic flagships: Aura Seaways first and then her sister Luna Seaways. Initially, they thought about lengthening the existing vessels, but ultimately, they decided to opt for new ships altogether. Thus, our berth construction & rebuilding project, some 25-30 million euros, had a narrow time frame. Luckily, all loose ends got tied up on schedule. As you could see outside the port authority office, our stevedores were busy handling Aura Seaways. The ferry is still more than impressive, even though we got accustomed to taking care of her. Long story short, Karlshamn now has two 8.0-8.5 metres deep modern ro-ro berths – including a movable link-span and a semi-automatic mooring system – capable of accommodating Baltic’s largest ro-paxes. The new ro-ro harbour also offers onshore power supply, with the authority planning to invest in a photovoltaic system atop one of the port buildings. A bioLNG-tanking station will be set up in the vicinity, as one truck haulier has significantly invested in such vehicles pushing the demand. On that note, we power our cranes with electricity while the cargo handling fleet runs on HVO. You can look at the development from the lane metres-perspective. When I started working at the port, we took care of ships offering around one kilometre of freight capacity. Later, it was 2,000-ish lane metres; now, we speak of two times 4,500. The adjacent infrastructure, gates, and storage yards are also being upgraded extensively to handle the increased volumes. In the short term, it is predominantly a legal affair. We already have at our disposal a large area, approximately 300 thousand square metres, that we used for storing pipes. We need formal approval for re-designating these premises. Fortunately, all is now signed & 32 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
sealed, so part of it will house trucks & trailers as of mid-October 2022. This development will, in turn, enable other actions like moving the passenger terminal, the gate, and DFDS’ office. The future organisation of wheeled cargo flows will be even more efficient. What is happening around the port to improve its business? The road capacity to and from, west-east likewise from the north, Karlshamn is secured. On the rail side, we invested in 30 thousand square metres, two full-length 700 metres tracks, intermodal terminal in 2014. Should the government improve our connectivity with the country’s trunk network, we would be over the moon. Specifically, I have the Southeast Link (Sydostlänken) in mind. It is the ‘missing link’ between Olofström and the Blekinge coastal railway. The outgoing cabinet has included constructing the Southeast Link in the Swedish national infrastructure programme 20222033. Additionally, the existing OlofströmÄlmhult (battered down) route will be modernised, including electrification. Port cargo traffic-wise, there is a Volvo body component plant in Olofström for all their cars, while in Älmhult – IKEA. The two companies and several municipalities have supported pushing the idea forward. The four billion Swedish crown project has been running for four years, mainly involving planning and obtaining permits. It now entered a new phase following a decision on the detailed localisation of the new railroad. The construction works should start in 2027-2028. Meanwhile, a new shunting yard in Karlshamn will be erected – probably the largest one commissioned in Sweden in years. Olofström will also get a marshalling yard. Getting trailers on rails is already crucial – and will be even more critical in the future. We used to handle trucks predominantly in the past. Given that the lorry driver shortage will only deepen, taking in and dispatching as many trailers as possible by rail will be
a deal-maker for a seaport. We have seen a steady increase in railborne traffic, mainly wagonloads and containers, from 3,000 to 16,000 wagons today. We look forward to handling more wheeled cargo by rail. What has been the pandemic and the war’s impact on your operations? The pandemic has had little effect on the volumes and how we operate. We are chiefly a cargo port, and ships kept calling Karlshamn disruption-free. Staff-wise, we had to do some fine-tuning, as people were generally advised to stay home if they felt something might be going on. Yet, that wasn’t a big issue in any way, shape or form. On the other hand, the Russian aggression has negatively affected some port business areas, such as ferry and oil. Trading the latter was more or less built on Russia. Moreover, given oil’s high price, buyers aren’t particularly keen on storing it – as was the case during COVID-19. Then again, Primagaz’s LPG imports from the US and then exports from Karlshamn, including to Poland, are going strong. The same for forest products like sawn timber heading to the US. Where we used to store gas pipes, now there are wind turbine components. We will see even more project cargo in the coming years. Altogether, this year is pretty good, more or less on par with the previous. The years 2017-2019 distort the picture, as the gas pipeline project contributed a lot of volumes. We provide 95-100 full-time equivalent jobs during ‘ordinary’ years. In that period, we were up to 250. Regrettably, Russia’s attack on Ukraine cut our container traffic short. The KarlshamnMukran-Kaliningrad-China New Silk Road corridor was booming out of the gate, remarkably with loads of Swedish exports. In fact, our involvement started with export goods, while import containers followed suit after a couple of months. Still, exports dominated. How will Karlshamn grow logistically in the coming years?
BTJ TRIP
Photos: Port of Karlshamn
The land around the port, some two million square metres, is owned by the municipality. Fortunately for us, the plan is to make logistics use of it. There is also room for other establishments, say manufacturing, that will significantly benefit from having the seaport over the fence. A logistics centre built for DFDS is up & running, and several other plots have already been taken for developing transport facilities. Interestingly, there is another building in construction in the area, a recreational spot – set up in anticipation of the increased employee numbers to work around the port shortly. We have invested a lot in the port throughout the years, not only in the ferry harbour. We anticipate a slowdown in eastbound traffic due to the war. Still, the Baltics have the volumes to keep the wheels spinning. Overseas traffic to the west looks nothing
but promising. Swedish forest products are highly regarded in the US. We load 40-60 thousand cubic metres at least once a month for sending over the Atlantic (we also provide wood finishing in the port, so the shipment doesn’t get waterlogged). Next, we are looking forward to all those projects outside the port but related to it taking shape: rail- and logistics-wise. Do not forget that DFDS put two hundred million euros on the table to get Aura Seaways and Luna Seaways into Klaipėda’s and our ports. We also keep our fingers crossed for the development of the Swedish wind energy business, which will keep us busy handling project cargo. The port access road network is long and wide enough for transporting such enormous components farther into the hinterland, say up to Alvesta some 150 kilometres north. Cumulatively, maintaining that five million tonnes per year level seems
doable. We also have a very dedicated workforce, proud to work in the port and thanks to whom Karlshamn will continue offering smooth stevedoring. And here’s the thing: port planning isn’t about the next five years, not even ten or 20. A reasonable perspective is three decades. We cooperate with our owners, the local municipality, on equal footing to make Karlshamn the place for the transport & logistics industry to settle in. Like in other sites in Sweden and elsewhere across the Baltic, the town grew from the port, thus the reciprocal link of understanding. It might sound easy, but it requires much effort to make the right capital-intensive investment decisions, buy equipment that fits the needs, or make a pitch for governmental or EU funding for infrastructure that is beyond the port premises but which will have a direct impact on us. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 33
Interview with Per Fredman, VP of Sales and Marketing & Member of the Management Team, the Port of Södertälje
Doing things smartly by Przemysław Opłocki Upon our recent visit to Södertälje, a uniquely positioned harbour just over 30 km from the Stockholm city centre, we spoke to Per Fredman about the seaport’s future projects and expansion as well as its current challenges. Undeniably, with its minimal environmental impact, technological advances, and educational outreach, the port seems to be on the right track. How did the port fare during the coronavirus pandemic? We split everyone into ‘white’ and ‘blue’ colours to protect our workforce. The former worked every other day in the office (and every second day from home), and the next day, the other gang. We had meetings on Teams every morning together and later whenever necessary. We tried to do our best for our stevedores; we divided the room where they had their lunches and breakfasts, so drivers had one part of the room, and the rest of the staff had the other. And we tried to divide lunchtime and breakfast time if possible. Also, the crane drivers are not allowed to go in the buses – they had to walk because they were very difficult to replace in terms of a workforce. Speaking about that human factor, how difficult or easy is it to find port workers, especially when we are talking about stevedores and drivers? I think it had been easier before. We are now hiring stevedores again, so let’s see how that goes. Hopefully, it will be easy, but at the same time, you want the right people, with the proper attitude, preferably with some experience, perhaps on a forklift, in the warehouse, or something in that fashion. The rest we can teach, like driving a crane – that is something we have to do because we don’t just send anybody to operate the container cranes; that would be too dangerous. But we also cooperate with local schools if they have pupils in need of workplace experience. When dealing with programmes in logistics, schools can contact us, and if we have the time, if possible, we will do it. Recently, after this type of programme, we employed two girls and one guy; they have all gone through this logistics programme. It is vital to take care of those seeking education in the field of logistics. We try, but we are a relatively small organisation, so we can’t manage too much. Still, our results are promising. If someone starts to work in the port or the office, do they stay there for a long time? 34 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
Nowadays, they remain for shorter periods. It is a change since the former generation when working in one place for a lifetime was customary. The younger generation will not stay that long. But, what is worth noting is that if you don’t have formal education, this is a pretty well-paid job, comparatively speaking. You have a fair chance to get extra work in addition to reasonable working hours, access to neat facilities, and friendship for good measure. So, it is easy to stay. And when looking at statistics, how did you perform in H1 2022 compared to the pandemic period? What is the outlook for year-end? It is slightly better, not too much, because we did not suffer too much due to COVID-19. We are the closest cargo port to the Stockholm area so we could stay busy. We tried and managed to balance it all out pretty well. But now, the first half of 2022 has been even better. So, the figures are in black and following the budgets, so we are pretty happy. How has the link between Södertälje and Riga been doing? It takes time to build up a new line. The numbers are promising, and Scandic Line seems to have enough muscle to keep on. So, let us see what happens this autumn, as we are hopeful to see some progress. We also notice much promise from the new concrete elements factory in Riga. We expect shipments of some 20-30 trailers per week, so that is fantastic. And there is much more to come, but it isn’t easy to foresee it right now. We are very optimistic, and I believe we will see more volume coming. What is lacking right now is this customs filter so that passengers or drivers can move without problems and delays. We will soon have it in place, easing up the sales from Scandic Line. We are working on it, though, with an actionplan. You have handled some ‘unusual’ cargo, like prefabricated housing modules. Can you share the logistics details of how challenging it is to take care of such project cargo?
We look for many infrastructure projects that are good business for us. We have cargo such as bridge elements, steel pipes, house modules, and other construction materials. This type of freight is what we would like to be able to help our customers and their clients with. It also depends a bit on the situation in the port and the cargo flow. We are never full, as we say, but from time to time, we have to be clever with the space in the port. The housing modules, manufactured in Malaysia, came from the Swedish company SIBS which builds rental apartments, and it seems they do good business because they are shipping in a lot more modules. And today, we managed to get a deal where we will load modules for the first time. We have always just offloaded and realised it is a more difficult task to load. So, that will be interesting. Are the modules concrete or wood? Both actually. The bottom is concrete, quite heavy compared to other modules. And thanks to having this concrete platform, we can utilise this specially built spreader to move such heavy modules. The spreader is not automatic – it is manual in many ways. It is very, very tough to move. But it’s conducive because it is restricted here in Sweden – you cannot work at very high heights. So, when you have two layers on top of a vessel, you can use this spreader and stay consistent with regulations. Otherwise, you have two cranes and one working platform, which costs you two crane drivers and two cranes rather than one. So, this works for us. Our people are looking to do it in a more automated way, and I hope they manage. So, is it also suitable to take the standard 40-foot container? Yes, it is. Still, we never use it for standard containers; the spreader is too hard to work with. But still, it is good to have it because, for example, you could put them two-high or three-high if needed. But if we didn’t have the spreader, we wouldn’t be able to do it due to the restrictions about working at high heights. Sometimes, you have to adapt.
BTJ TRIP
Photos: Port of Södertälje
What is the port doing across the IT/digital and sustainability fronts, especially since one of Södertälje’s goals is to be one of Sweden’s greenest ports? And also, what are some of the tools with which you want to make that happen? Well, it has already happened. We have a fossilfree machine park where we drive HVO 100, even now, while it is costly. We use renewable electricity for all our machines. That’s quite a big step. Additionally, we have solar panels atop our warehouse – the biggest we could build, we built. We supply approximately 25% of our needs via solar panels. And, of course, we have LEDs in the system. Also, preferably, we work with projects that bring cargo from the road to the sea – if that can be done, we are eager to attend or partake in the project. For instance, recently we transported steel pipes via barges into the Stockholm city centre which otherwise would have had to be done via roads. So, we are always on the lookout for these kinds of projects. What is the current status of the BioCCS project? The Swedish government will provide subsidies to players investing in bio-CCS facilities, capturing, separating and storing CO2 from renewable sources. A reverse auction will determine which players can perform bio-CCS at the lowest cost, with companies bidding on how much CO2 they can capture. The winner of the tender receives the support. The first auction is taking place at the
end of 2022. It takes about three years to organise the project, so the storage and support payment might not occur before 2026. What is the WorkIT app? It is a mobile application developed by Hogia Terminal System, which provides terminals & ports with logistical handling systems. This application can be used for scanning cars, keeping track of strip/stuff, reefer temperatures, etc. What are Södertälje’s ongoing and future port development plans? It is electrifying the rails into the port and rebuilding the rail tracks for smarter and quicker movements. We do not need very long rail tracks; it makes more sense for us to build more but shorter tracks. And also, in the future, we would like to have a dolphin set up some 50-60 m south of quay 13 to receive longer vessels. We also need to renovate quay 12. Additionally, we will install more solar panels, and we have to renew our machine park. Space, of course, is what is most important to be able to grow. Therefore, we would like to continue developing a more efficient logistical flow when receiving a whole load of cars from a ro-ro vessel while saving some space in the port. We want to grow, but we want to do it smartly. What is happening around the seaport transport & logistics, particularly the Stockholm SYD project?
We are trying to market in this area because we see ourselves as a unique selling point for the project due to our positioning. Many companies want a port close by. At the end of the day, the expansion is tremendous right now. It took a long time to get it going, but now it is happening. So, in total, lots of new buildings and companies are getting established right now in the area, and we have just seen the beginning. I expect to see even more businesses move to the area because of the project, as it happened in similar situations. And I can see that this region will provide and supply ‘the ring’ of Stockholm from the south: on land (including by rail) and sea. So, I expect a lot from the Stockholm SYD project. A lot. What stands behind the ‘Stockholm Gateway’ name? I came up with it because I think Södertälje – if you are out there globally, it is not easy to market. And we always try to emphasise our location, which is fantastic for this area. Södertälje is absolutely a great connection. We are the closest cargo port to the Stockholm city centre (some 30 km), which makes the location exceptional with its roads, rail, and waterways. And now, with Stockholm SYD, we are moving even closer to the capital, hence the Stockholm Gateway. Also, the harbour fuel facilities in Stockholm will be decommissioned. We are prepared to handle all the volumes currently imported for the area. Our fairway will get deeper and straighten to make the voyage safer for future tankers. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 35
Europe’s bumpy road to reducing its oil consumption
No (future) regrets by Ewa Kochańska In the wake of the Russian aggression on Ukraine, something that had been quite obvious even for a casual observer long before the attack has become an undeniable truth – the European Union’s energy independence is fundamental to its security and longevity. With the December 2022 ban on 90% of oil imports from Russia swiftly approaching, Europe has to take aggressive steps to reduce its oil demand. The Transport & Environment’s (T&E) How Europe can cut a third of its oil demand by 2030 paper analyses the proposals included in RepowerEU, the European Commission’s plan for energy independence from Russian fossil fuels, and the Fit for 55 (FF55) plan, EU’s blueprint for a green transition. Additionally, T&E offers short-, medium-, and long-term measures to speed up the change, cut the demand, and ensure that the current energy crisis does not turn into an energy catastrophe.
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urrently, Russia provides over a quarter of the EU’s imported oil and around 40% of gas for roughly €400b annually. To help achieve the block’s energy independence from the Kremlin’s regime, the transportation sector and its users will have to take drastic steps to shift away from fossil fuels. At present, transport fuel needs account for two-thirds of oil consumption in the EU – and road transport alone takes care of 50% of all EU’s oil. According to the T&E analysis, the fuel consumption in Europe will not significantly change by 2025, while the measures included in FF55 will not decrease oil demand in the short term. Almost immediately While citizens and companies can immediately reduce their unnecessary energy consumption (e.g., by lowering the temperature indoors in winter), fixing sector and industry inefficiencies will make the most tangible difference. In the transport sector, passenger cars are routinely driven with just one person inside; trucks often travel empty and rarely fully 36 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
loaded; airlines fly empty or almost empty aircraft to keep their airport slots; ships speed to get to their destinations only to queue outside the port; and next day deliveries force inefficient delivery routes and loading practices. When it comes to actions from national governments, they can sometimes be detrimental even if well-meaning; for instance, as fuel prices rise, tax exemptions and emergency tax withholding at the pump only increase the demand for fuel. Instead, the report suggests a more effective policy would be direct cash payments to households. Additionally, since 23% of the energy use in the European transport sector comes from urban mobility, actions from cities that encourage citizens to switch from a vehicle to active travel (on foot, bike, or scooter) can significantly decrease fuel consumption. Changes such as widening the pavements, increasing the number of bike lanes, and changing car lanes into bus-only to ensure public transport is more efficient and keeps to schedule, can be easily implemented short-term.
Non-passenger road transport is also a significant challenge in reducing fuel demand. The report points out that lowering highway truck speed limits reduces fuel use and can be introduced by governments almost immediately. This solution also helps increase road safety and reduce road casualties and injuries. A trailer modernisation programme would be another easily enacted short-term measure. Aerodynamic devices are hardly ever used in the EU, even though they can save up to 6% of fuel on typical long-hauls. Additionally, mandatory use of high-performing tyres should be enforced, as some of the best-performing models can save up to 8% on fuel. Checking and monitoring proper tyre pressure also optimises fuel economy. Moreover, the report pointed out that according to findings in the 2021 ICCT meta-analysis, eco-driving saves an average of 5-30% in fuel consumption; governments could introduce a requirement for transport companies to introduce eco-driving programmes within one year. Lastly, reducing the frequency of home deliveries, particularly next-day ones
ECONOMY Fig. 1. Final consumption and net trade of oil products in the EU in 2019
Sources: Eurostat, FuelsEurope
where vehicles are sub-optimally loaded with inefficient routing, would have a significant impact. T&E recommends that national governments install a next-day delivery surcharge to disincentivise it. Aviation is a very well-known pollutant with rapid growth: +67% between 2005 and 2019. Its emissions are expected to increase from 2019 to 2050 by 38%, even
with aircraft improvements in efficiency. Pricing in the sector is among the chief culprits: aviation taxes are among the lowest among all transport modes, with no VAT nor excise duty paid for kerosene. FF55 deals with the issue of fuel excise, but the report suggests that governments should impose “an emergency ticket tax levy on all flights, based on distance and
travel class.” Since wealthy citizens use this transport mode, the price changes will not affect low-income households, and the revenues could help transition to greener fuels. At the same time, a decrease in demand would lower emissions. Another issue is corporate travel, which usually stands for f lying. The pandemic illustrated how corporations, businesses, and
Fig. 2. Petrol and diesel consumption in the EU 27 with projection1
T&E’s modelling (excl. biofuels) Sources: Eurostat, Stratas Advisors 1
5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 37
ECONOMY media industries could get work done and even increase productivity and revenues without travelling the world far & wide. Therefore, the report suggests that corporations should adopt targets for absolute reductions in their flying to half or less of pre-pandemic levels by replacing it with either high-speed rail or opting for virtual meetings and communications. Also, employers could offer extra leave days for low-carbon vacation travel for workers who select medium-to-long-distance trains instead of flying. Making the difference Building on the above, the mediumterm measures taken by the EU and its Member States must be well thought out and deliberate. Since passenger vehicles consume 30% of the oil imported into the EU from Russia, there should be an action plan to accelerate all vehicle electrification in 2022-2025. The T&E report calls for a more aggressive goal of electrifying the car fleet, from just 15% of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sales by 2025 to 50%. National governments can use tax incentives and regulations to encourage highmileage vehicles (such as corporate cars, taxis, or delivery vehicles) to switch to electric. There should also be governmental aid for low-income households and businesses to replace low-fuel economy vehicles with BEVs and a zero-emission vehicle government mandate for corporate fleets. Additionally, the report states that the FF55 proposals regarding the emission reductions for cars and vans, as well as heavy-duty and lighter trucks, trailers, buses and coaches, do not go far enough. More far-reaching changes can be mandated and are possible due to innovation in the electric vehicle market and vehicle producers’ commitments. Moreover, recent years have illustrated that government incentives can make a difference in BEV uptake. The report recommends installing a bonus-malus system (that adjusts the premium paid by a customer according to their individual claim history) to encourage BEV sales. It would go along with the vehicle registration taxation process, combined with a €6,000 subsidy for zero-emission vehicle purchases at the point of the first sale (some governments have already enacted similar incentives with great success). Also, corporate f leets, which are in existence thanks to tax allowances in national fiscal policies, are affected by changes in these policies; therefore, disincentivising high- and incentivising zero-emission vehicles can 38 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
Fig. 3. Corporate and private car registrations and CO2 emissions1
New passenger car registrations in 2021; calculated based on Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure emissions Source: Dataforce (2022) 1
be particularly successful when targeting corporate fleets. Moreover, recent studies show that the most effective measures to decrease car use in European cities have been: congestion charges (a.o., charging to enter the city); taking away car spaces to make more room for green transport modes like buses and bikes; and limiting thru-traffic zones (e.g., creating resident access areas only). Zeroemission zones, which can be enacted as supplementary solutions, have also been successful. These measures can reduce city car traffic from 10% to over 30%. The shipping sector is another significant polluter and consumer of energy. The report advises mandating the fuel efficiency of ships in the Energy Efficiency Directive. There are numerous emission reducing improvements in shipping that should be required, such as slow steaming, propeller and hull optimisation, and engine and boiler improvements. The report proposes to mandate national or regional “energy efficiency standards that define maximum permissible energy consumption per tonne nautical mile (MJ/t-nm) per ship type and size.” Furthermore, T&E states that the FuelEU proposal, a regulation for setting greenhouse gas intensity fuel targets in the EU, does not put enough pressure on sustainable fuel uptake. The report advises moving targets by five years so that 2035 goals are achieved by 2030. Additionally, the shoreside electrification (SSE) goals in FuelEU for shipping are insufficient. The SSE mandate only covers passenger and container ships and is supposed to start in 2030, even though the technology is available now. “T&E recommends that
the FuelEU zero emission berth mandate applies to all passenger ships starting from 2025 and be followed by container ships, tankers and refrigerated-bulk carriers from 2030,” says the report adding that all other ships would have to be covered by 2035. And while FF55 proposes to include shipping in the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the report suggests using some of these revenues for zeroemission fuels and technologies. There is also particular concern about the increase in liquefied natural gas (LNG) use in shipping (especially Russian LNG); to deal with that, T&E recommends mandating green hydrogen uptake in the FuelEU Maritime Regulation. “Hydrogen is a future-proof technology for shipping. Hence, it is a noregret option,” says the report. Next, it is worth noting that logistics optimisation and better capacity utilisation are crucial to decreasing fuel needs in Europe. The report names the following levers for increasing road freight efficiency: load optimisation and consolidation, reducing the number of empty runs, modular packaging and boxes, open transport networks and warehousing, pooling/sharing shipments, reducing demand for very short delivery times, and using double floors (with load volume or floor space determining how many trucks are required instead of weight). With the proper measures in place, T&E expects a 10% increase in the average truckload. Some additional recommendations for reduction measures in aviation include the EU integrating air travel into requirements for corporate climate transition plans and reporting, national governments pausing or cancelling planned
ECONOMY
Photo: T&E
airport expansion plans, and including the sector in national climate and energy plans and carbon budgets. For road vehicles, the availability of public charging infrastructure will play a vital role in the zero-emission transition. While the charging infrastructure network expansion for cars is expected to keep up with the uptake of private electric vehicles, the public charging infrastructure for lorries needs additional action from the EU. “The EU should set binding targets for electric truck chargers from 2025 onwards, at least along the main highways (TEN-T Core Networks),” says the report. Putting an end While the short- and medium-term measures are a solid strategy to start on the right track, the long-term solutions will ensure that governments, corporations, and citizens are given enough time to change laws and behaviours to begin developing a sustainable transport sector for the future. These include phasing out the sales of most internal combustion vehicles by 2035, including all vans, buses, and trucks, with the exemption of difficult-to-electrify trucks such as construction vehicles (which can go to 100% zero-emission in 2040). Also beneficial would be increasing the share of rail and inland waterway freight, shifting it away from European roads. The report calls for the EU to remove barriers to make that possible by completing the TEN-T and ensuring its capabilities are maxed out; supporting and funding programmes that encourage relevant investments (such as public tenders); offering incentives for rail and waterway cargo transportation; ensuring that all infrastructure, like electric recharging points and hydrogen refuelling points, are in place to electrify all
rail; and putting an effective framework for intermodal transport in place. Lastly, greening the grid is necessary for the electrification of transport to make sense. The REpowerEU proposal already sets a higher 2030 target for the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) to 45% (from 40%). The EU should also plan and invest in green fuels for shipping and aviation, where direct electrification will not happen in most situations. Green hydrogen and e-fuels still need much action from governmental bodies to make them feasible. All the measures, government efforts, and changes in behaviour have their own price point. According to the estimates, the European green transition will cost an additional €480b in investments annually (almost three times the EU’s yearly budget). The additional funds will have to be raised from private finance institutions where greenwashing is “rampant” and green investments lack sciencebased standards (which has allowed for an increase in fossil fuel investments since the Paris Agreement). Therefore, the report highlights that the EU Taxonomy Regulation (and next year’s reform of sustainability-environmental-social-governance ratings), a classification system established to determine which investments are environmentally sustainable and to prevent greenwashing, is essential to safeguard. The regulation can put an end to damaging practices such as defining gas as a “clean” and desirable replacement for coal and oil, leading to Europe’s dependence on gas imports and allowing for funds meant for renewables to be redirected towards gas turbines. Also, T&E recommends boosting national mitigation through the Effort Sharing Regulation, which sets annual targets for the sectors in the EU that fall
outside of the EU ETS. Those industries account for as much as 60% of the block’s total domestic emissions. Other helpful measures include electrifying the leasing market via the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy 2020; focusing actions by the European Investment Bank on measures that increase the use of zero-emission vehicles (such as supporting leases of these for low-income families); and requiring public authorities to purchase from 2025 zero-emission vehicles only. The report also advises businesses and governments to share the costs of sustainable and shared mobility (a.o., funding electric bikes and public transport incentives). Two measures are necessary to boost car sharing: loans and grants for this type of business model development and a fund to the local administrations for relevant support and preparation. The report also recommends a direct subsidy for bike repairs and a fund to local administrations to develop bike lanes to boost bicycle use. No choice Russia’s aggression on Ukraine highlighted the already hotly debated issue in Europe – reliance on unstable, unreliable, and unethical regimes for something as crucial to everyday modern life as energy. This is particularly concerning when that reliance pertains to a country that has routinely terrorised its neighbours while hinting, with the grace of a bear in a china shop, at its nuclear arsenal in response to any resistance. Finding itself in this particular corner, the EU has no choice but to change its energy sources, boost its energy efficiency, and shift to renewable energy technologies, all the while manipulating its demand-side measures to ensure tangible energy savings. And do it really fast. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 39
The Blue Visby Consortium: how data-powered partnership helps accelerate maritime decarbonisation
Collaboration in action by Pekka Pakkanen, Executive Vice President, NAPA Shipping Solutions Collaboration is rightfully hailed as the key ingredient to making maritime decarbonisation a reality, and this new mindset is gaining pace in shipping. Across the sector, companies have expressed their willingness to work together. Still, many ask where to start – and how. In other words, a clear framework is often missing to enable different stakeholders to join partnerships without hesitation – and with the confidence that collaborating will not jeopardise their own organisational goals.
F
rom our experience in supporting partnerships in shipyards and at sea, it is clear that successful collaborations rely on flexible thinking and the willingness to explore new ways of working. We also know that digital tools are the backbone of successful collaborations, enabling information sharing, strengthening trust, and creating a fair playing field for everyone involved. Sharing costs – and rewards One example of decarbonisation collaboration in practice is the Blue Visby Solution. It sees the different stakeholders involved in a ship’s voyage proactively agreeing to share some of the risks and benefits of the decarbonisation transition. The potential impact of such collaboration is meaningful: an average 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across the dry bulk and tanker fleet, where the Blue Visby Solution was tested. The pioneering project partners show how the maritime sector can today reshape existing frameworks and remove some of the obstacles and inefficiencies that still stand in the way of emission reductions. The Blue Visby Solution combines stateof-the-art digital technology and an innovative contractual framework to solve one of shipping’s hardest-to-abate problems: sail fast, then wait. This phenomenon sees ships sailing at speed across oceans (increasing their emissions exponentially) only to anchor for extended periods outside congested ports. The contractual framework underlying Blue Visby tackles the ‘split incentives problem’ by enabling the different stakeholders involved in a voyage (charterers, shipowners, and cargo owners) to share the expenses, risks, and rewards of using the Blue Visby Solution – including fuel savings, the costs of a lengthier journey, and the financial value of emission reductions where applicable. The aim is that no one loses out in the process. The Blue Visby Consortium estimates that the Blue Visby Solution has the potential to 40 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
reduce the carbon footprint of the global shipping fleet by approximately 60 million tonnes of CO2 per year if it were applied worldwide across all shipping segments that the solution addresses – which is larger than the total emissions of an entire country like Norway. The project is based on the maritime tradition of collaboration to overcome the industry’s challenges. The inspiration for Blue Visby is the age-old general average practice, where the stakeholders in a vessel’s voyage proportionally share the losses from the sacrifice of part of the ship or cargo to save the whole from peril. The climate emergency can be viewed as such a peril. It is not an emergency for just one ship but the entire maritime trade. By joining forces, we can help protect the planet. Place in the queue Cutting-edge digital technology is what takes Blue Visby from concept to reality. The solution is underpinned by NAPA’s data and voyage optimisation expertise. It relies on high-tech algorithms to help optimise and stagger arrival times for vessel groups travelling to the same port. The Blue Visby algorithm – taking into account various parameters (each vessel’s performance and characteristics, port congestion at the destination, and weather conditions) – provides an optimal target arrival time for every vessel while keeping their order of arrival as if they had sailed independently without the solution. This enables ships to slow down, cutting fuel consumption and emissions, but still ‘keep their place in the queue,’ arriving one after the other, thus reducing unnecessary waiting times outside ports. Crucial to the success of the Blue Visby platform is its commitment to remaining neutral, independent, and transparent by creating a robust and fair platform that all participating companies trust. It also addresses industry concerns about sharing sensitive information: the algorithms that
assign a target arrival time to each vessel require publicly available automatic identification system data only. Furthermore, the anticipated 15% emission reduction from the liquid and dry bulk fleets will make a tangible difference to the environment without impacting commercial viability: the speed reduction would be as little as one knot on average. Open to exploring The Blue Visby case demonstrates some of the most important principles behind collaborating successfully. These include the importance of creating trust through shared knowledge and robust platforms and how new efficiencies can be discovered by all stakeholders being open to exploring new paradigms and ways of working. This is just one example of how data-powered collaboration can help accelerate maritime decarbonisation. Such partnerships can begin at the drawing board – the crucial design phase – when a vessel is still a concept. The latest advances in information sharing are unlocking an unprecedented level of collaboration between designers, owners, sub-contractors, and classification societies through 3D models that enable them to work collaboratively on a ‘single source of truth.’ This is key to delivering the innovative designs demanded by the industry to reduce their carbon footprint. Technology is already enabling efficient real-time data sharing. Still, the intellectual property rights of each party must be protected, which calls for collaboration on the contractual frameworks between the stakeholders to unlock the benefits of today’s technology. In practice, intelligent 3D models produced with NAPA Designer, together with the web-based NAPA Viewer information sharing solution, enable engineers to test new approaches more easily, allowing for fast design changes and reliable analyses of how new features will work together
MARITIME
Photos: NAPA-Blue Visby Consortium
and impact the integrity, stability, and efficiency of the global structure. This helps all stakeholders explore new ‘technological territories’ together, such as designs incorporating new fuels and technologies. The aim is to also use these models for classification approvals, which will be a win-win situation for shipyards, owners and class, enhancing information sharing, saving time, and limiting error risk. Never compromised Successful collaborations also rely on all partners agreeing on common principles that will guide them throughout developing new solutions. One of them is that safety
must be guaranteed. As the environmental and technological landscape evolves rapidly, innovation must go in tandem with digital tools that enable fast-paced innovation to be matched by the highest safety standards. Whether alternative fuels, carbon capturing, navigational tech, or performance optimisation tools, new technologies impact a ship’s safety profile. They must be implemented by considering parameters like ship stability and longitudinal strength. Vessel-specific digital models, together with cloud-based solutions, already play a key role, enabling crews on board and shoreside teams to collaborate on an unprecedented scale to ensure the safety and stability of daily operations. In practice, our NAPA Stability solution supports the crew’s critical decisions on deadweight management, optimising various parameters (fuel and water bunkering, hull and trim) to make voyages more efficient while maintaining vessel safety and stability. With cloud connection between ship and shore, fleet optimisation centres can better support seafarers on board with stability decisions and calculations. Safety has become a shared
responsibility with real-time access to stability data at the shore. Moving forward, data-powered models will continue to ensure that innovative vessels remain safe by enabling decision-making, implementation, and execution of new green technologies that ensure a ship’s sustainable operations without ever compromising safety. These models also build trust based on reliable and comprehensive data, providing all partners with a ‘safe framework’ within which new decarbonisation measures can be implemented (including future fuels, wind propulsion systems, and weather routing). No trade-off Cultivating the industry’s collaborative mindset is vital to explore new ways of working together, supported by the digital tools needed to make partnerships work. The reality is that there is no trade-off between individual and collective interests. Instead, effective cooperation is a win-win situation in which all partners improve their outcomes, gain clarity, future-proof their assets, and contribute to the greenhouse gas emission reductions Earth urgently needs.
In its over 30 years of operation, the Helsinki-headquartered NAPA has become a global leader in developing and scaling software, services and data analysis for a safer, smarter, and more sustainable maritime industry. To date, NAPA has 420 user organisations for its design solutions, nearly 3,000 installations onboard vessels, and a growing number of subscribers for its cloud-based fleet services. Make your way to www.napa.fi to see more. The Blue Visby Solution is a multilateral platform for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 15% through eradicating the ‘sail fast, then wait’ practice. In collaboration with the Consortium participants, we are conducting real-time pilot programs, aiming to launch in 2023. The Blue Visby Consortium is co-ordinated by Napa and Stephenson Harwood, leading experts in their respective fields of maritime technology and law. At bluevisby.com you can check more & get involved. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 41
The GREEN RAY project: reducing methane slip from LNG engines
Let nothing slip away by Asya Al Marhubi and Belén Gutiérrez, REVOLVE Innovative solutions are needed to reach the ambitious climate neutrality and emission reduction goals established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the European Commission (COM) at the international and European levels. Massive energy consumption reductions are foreseen, but cleaner lowcarbon energies will also play an essential role in this transition. Regarding maritime transport, liquefied natural gas (LNG) solutions can enable this green future if the methane slip challenge is addressed. The GREEN RAY project proposes three innovative technologies for LNG engines that can be installed on new and existing ships and will drastically reduce the methane slip, contributing to climate action and a healthier society.
T
he transport sector accounts for a quarter of the European Union’s total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG-E). In particular, shipping was responsible for 153.9mt of CO2 emitted in the EU 27 in 2019, contributing to climate change and compromising air and water quality through fuel-based pollution, affecting not only the environment but also human health. As part of the Fit for 55 legislative package, a plan to reduce net GHG-E by at least 55% by 2030, COM released a proposal for a FuelEU Maritime regulation in July 2021. It aims to reduce the carbon intensity of the energy used by maritime transport by stimulating the uptake of sustainable marine fuels and zero-emission technologies to reach a 90% reduction in transport emissions by 2050 vs 1990 levels. This goal of the EU follows the lead established in 2018 by IMO. The IMO released their Initial GHG Strategy, aimed at reducing CO2 emissions by a minimum of 40% by 2030, up by 70% by 2050, and halving total emissions by 2050 vs 2008 levels. This Strategy will be revised and updated next year. 42 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
These goals are ambitious and will not be reached by only reducing the sector’s energy consumption through fuel efficiency. Alternative low-carbon energy sources are therefore also needed. Following the successful adoption of several IMO regulations on emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulphur oxides (SOX), LNG has emerged as a strong contender to replace heavy fuel oil. According to SEA-LNG's January 2022 report, the past year was a record one in both the growth of LNG as a marine fuel and the number of orders for gas-fuelled vessels. They estimate that 30% of the gross tonnage ordered corresponds to LNG-run newbuilding orders, and “for some segments, such as the ultra-large container vessels which underpin the global trading system, more than 50% of the order book is either LNG-fuelled or LNG-ready.” Further reduction The emissions profile of LNG is favourable relative to oil-based fuels, both in terms of particle emissions and NOX and SOX, as well as lower overall well-to-wake GHG-E. The shift to LNG has improved overall air quality and reduced water and
soil acidification. However, methane slip – the escape of methane not burned as fuel into the atmosphere – remains a considerable challenge that needs to be minimised in the context of increasing LNG use: methane has a global warming potential 28-34 times that of CO2 on a 100-year timescale. There are several ways to reduce methane slip from LNG-powered ships to negligible amounts or even eliminate it. Wärtsilä has cut it from its dual-fuel engines by 85% since 1993. As a result of the new technologies they are developing, they also expect to reduce methane slip further: by more than 50% to roughly 1.0 gram per kWh while keeping the NOX, SOX, and particulates at the same level. One of these innovative processes is being developed under the GREEN RAY, a Horizon Europe project. Coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, it brings together partners from across the shipping value chain: Chantiers de l’Atlantique, CMA SHIPS, Wärtsilä, Shell, DNV, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the Cruise Division of the MSC Group, as well as the sustainability-focused communications agency REVOLVE.
MARITIME Fig. 1. Worldwide growth in LNG use and infrastructure
Source: SEA-LNG
Targeted from multiple angles The goals of the project comprise assessing methane emissions from existing and new LNG vessels; developing technologies to reduce methane slip in two- and four-stroke LNG engines; developing an after-treatment technology to further minimise methane slip; producing scenarios for shipping emissions and how GREEN RAY technologies can contribute to GHG-E reduction; and enabling the utilisation of the project results to maximise long-term research impacts. GREEN RAY will target the low-pressure dual-fuel concept, currently the most popular LNG engine technology, to prevent methane slip. The project partners will provide solutions to reduce methane slip in two- and four-stroke engines as well as tackle remaining methane slip through the development of an after-treatment technology to convert it into a less potent greenhouse gas. For four-stroke engines, the solution will aim to enable methane slip reduction at all engine loads, applicable to the largest engines in the market (including cruise ships, ferries, gas carriers). GREEN
RAY aims to significantly decrease methane emissions based on the developments of numerous systems (gas fuel, liquid fuel injection, engine charge air delivery) and engine control. This technology could provide a 40% overall reduction of methane slip. Regarding two-stroke engines, GREEN RAY will develop a new LNG injection system that will significantly reduce methane slip by improving spray distribution and combustion behaviour compared to gas injection. This engine solution aims to substantially reduce methane slip from, e.g., tankers and container ships. This development could lower methane slip by 70%. Thirdly, as a backstop for remaining methane emissions, GREEN RAY is developing a catalytic abatement system comprising a high-capacity sulphur guard bed and a low-temperature methane oxidation
catalyst. This system will significantly reduce methane slip emissions, up to 95%, to less than 1.0g/kWh. A more comprehensive outlook The developed technologies will be demonstrated aboard three ships: two new and one retrofitted. Partners will also contribute to the collection of climate data through the study of methane levels. These will allow for a more global assessment of GHG-E from LNG as a marine fuel and will be combined with onboard experiments and modelling to provide a more comprehensive outlook of the climate impacts of maritime transportation. Ultimately, GREEN RAY can help make LNG a cleaner energy source as it spreads as an alternative fuel for European and international maritime transport.
The GREEN RAY project aims at minimising methane slip from liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels to enable clean waterborne transport. By developing three innovative technologies for LNG engines that can be installed on new and existing ships, GREEN RAY is working to reduce the negative impact of waterborne transport and protect human and environmental health. The GREEN RAY project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101056642. Go to greenray-project.eu to learn more. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 43
With CII incoming, it is time to reconsider LNG retrofits
Waiting is not an option by Adi Aggarwal, General Manager, SEA-LNG Our organisation has recently released an analysis that looks at retrofitting costs of a very large crude carrier (VLCC) to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel within the context of the upcoming International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII). Let us go stepby-step why, in light of our research, LNG retrofits now have a robust and long-term business case.
C
II is a gauge of how efficiently a ship transports cargo and is measured in grams of CO 2 emitted per deadweight tonne capacity and nautical mile. Once the regulatory measure goes into effect on 1 January 2023, CII thresholds will tighten annually, requiring owners to document vessel performance and demonstrate that the ship has achieved the required level for the year. On an A-E scale, a ship’s carbon intensity rating will be recorded in its Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP). Tonnage with the lowest scores will have to ‘clean up their act,’ so to say. The financial viability of vessels just a few years old could be severely 44 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
threatened if significant action to reduce emissions, such as alternative fuel adoption, is not taken. Increasingly stringent environmental regulations (among others, the IMO’s CII) will drive down the value of assets that are not in compliance and reduce competitiveness for their owners. Ships powered using heavy fuel oil (HFO) will rank poorly within the CII grades for existing vessels, which will, in turn, have a detrimental effect on their charter rates. Due to pressure from some major charterers and cargo owners – such as IKEA, Unilever, and Amazon – a strong CII rating of ‘major superior’ A or ‘superior’ B will be more desirable. The IMO also
encourages port authorities, governments, and other stakeholders to offer incentives for ships with superior CII ratings. Throughout the asset’s life SEA-LNG’s latest analysis looks at the investment performance of three available 2-stroke propulsion options. The most cost-effective solutions available for shipowners were chosen for the comparison: a current VLCC sailing on very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO), an HFOrun and scrubber-retrofitted VLCC, and a retrofitted VLCC powered by LNG. The study found significant benefits to choosing an LNG retrofit over the analysed alternatives to achieve the same
MARITIME 3.50
today, and in the future can retain a favourable CII rating as ‘major superior’ A or ‘superior’ B throughout its lifetime.
E D
3.00
C
CII gCO₂/dwt-nm
B A
2.50
HFO Scrubber VLSFO 2.00
LNG
1.50
1.00 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Year
2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032
’A’ Grade performance sustained with LNG pathway 180k dwt Capesize under MEPC June 2021 regulations
2.400 B
AER gCO₂/tnm
2.000
100% LNG
Mixing in bioLNG
Increase % of bioLNG A Increase % of bioLNG
1.600
blended bioLNG:LNG
1.200 2018
2020
2022
investment outcome on a net present value basis over a ten-year period. As one of the infographics highlights, adopting LNG fuel on a VLCC improves CII ratings substantially, giving and maintaining a one-to-two-grade improvement over alternatives throughout the asset’s remaining life. LNG came out as the best fuel option for owners considering how to restore financial viability by securing favourable CII ratings through retrofit. The LNG-retrofit vs HFO-scrubber vs VLSFO rating gap provides a clear commercial advantage to owners who choose the LNG pathway to decarbonisation. Short to medium to long term In a previous analysis conducted by SEA-LNG in February 2022, the team evaluated the performance of LNG for a Capesize bulk carrier. It compared emissions for two identical 180k dwt vessels, one using conventional, oil-based marine fuels and the other running on LNG as a marine fuel. As shown in the other figure, the results highlighted that the LNG-fuelled vessel
2024 Year
2026
2028
2030
immediately rated two grades higher than the conventionally-powered vessel. Therefore, LNG can be the difference between having a ‘moderate’ C-rated ship and having a ‘major superior’ A-scoring vessel on the IMO’s CII scale. As outlined in our research sets, LNGfuelled vessels can also gain improved carbon intensity ratings by incrementally adopting drop-in carbon-neutral bioLNG in the short to medium term or net-zero renewable synthetic eLNG in the longer term. February’s bulk carrier research also showed that for every 10% increase in the content of the bioLNG variant in a blend with traditional LNG, the vessel gains two years of additional CII compliance. By following the LNG pathway to decarbonisation, using bioLNG and eLNG, a ship commissioned yesterday,
A stock and flow problem The LNG pathway doesn’t only offer a route to net-zero emissions. It also allows shipowners to act now on their greenhouse gas emissions (GHG-E). The climate emergency we face is stock as well as a f low problem. By retrofitting their existing fleet to run on LNG, owners can start reducing GHG-E now and over the remaining lifetime of the vessel, keeping climate-warming emissions from entering the atmosphere. It is increasingly clear that waiting is not an option anymore. As we see it, LNG is a safe, mature, commercially viable marine fuel offering high GHG-E reduction performance and a pragmatic pathway to a net-zero future. With drop-in bioLNG or eLNG options, the LNG-fuelled vessels are future-proofed, enabling compliance with GHG-E reduction targets as the shipping industry moves towards its 2050 emissions goal. It is important that improving the environmental performance of the existing f leet is not overlooked. The current ocean-going f leet counts over 50,000 ships (worth around $1.8 trillion), transporting an estimated 11 billion tonnes of goods each year. If some of these can be retrofitted with alternative fuel capabilities – rather than being scrapped – the environmental benefits are significant. Retrofitting vessels to use LNG and its lower emission drop-in variants helps future-proof vessels, reduce costs, and improve returns. For owners, modernising a ship through retrofit can be carried out more quickly than building a new vessel. Newbuilds typically take around two years to construct. Accessing and scheduling work with a retrofit yard is often easier, as they have more capacity than newbuilding yards. Retrofitting can also usually be arranged as part of a planned dry-docking, meaning out-ofservice time and lost revenue are reduced across the entire project. As alternative fuels and regulations progress, it is paramount that we re-evaluate previous investments. And LNG retrofits now have a strong business case.
Founded in 2016, with numerous high-profile members including shipping companies, ports, LNG suppliers, bunkering companies, infrastructure providers, original equipment manufacturers, classification societies, banks, and brokers, SEA-LNG is a multi-sector industry coalition whose members work together to demonstrate the benefits of LNG and its variations as a marine fuel throughout the entire value chain. Head to sea-lng.org for more info. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 45
Why ‘real’ carbon footprint is key to investment
Know thy ship by Mia Elg, R&D Manager, Deltamarin Shipowners and operators should be well into planning for the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulations coming in from 2023 and what improvements they should make so their vessels comply. The best future-proof path is to base investment decisions on an analysis of a ship’s actual carbon footprint.
E
nergy-efficiency rules under EEXI and CII are being extended to cover practically all tonnage, old and new. Given that we will potentially move towards even tighter emission targets – in addition, faster than expected – I recommend that owners and operators first perform a preliminary analysis of their existing fleet’s status to give a basic understanding of the compliance challenge, then ensure their ships pass the EEXI requirements. Many will have already done this simply as a ticket to operate. Working with what you have The first, and in my experience, the most popular option is to implement engine power limitation (EPL): fully possible for many standard bulkers and tankers because it seems their typical operative load is relatively low (between 50-70%), mainly due to higher design speeds versus how fast they usually sail today. A few years back, we produced, with our digital design tools, an artificial model of our latest Aframax tanker (including its key operational characteristics). The ship has a design service speed of 14.5 knots and 11MW of main engine installed power. We chose several typical trade lanes the ship could encounter with standard current operational average speeds (12kn and 46 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
12.5kn). Secondly, we estimated the propulsion power on the route with our DeltaSeas method, combining the route’s statistical (or measured) wind and wave conditions with the ship’s calm water hull performance. The result is a realistic, ‘dynamic sea margin’ for the vessel. Figure 1 illustrates the propulsion power scatter (together with certain other ship parameters). In this case, we can observe typically less than 60% main engine loading expected for the vessel. We generally collect data from operating ships as a starting point for design optimisation in our newbuilding or retrofit projects. As such, we are able to observe similar patterns for engine loading in the majority of cargo vessel segments. Therefore, EPL due to EEXI might not significantly impact many ships’ operations. As a result, the motivation to improve EEXI by any means other than EPL typically comes from searching for monetary savings or the need to reduce the CII. This is when energy saving comes into the picture. A complex question If EPL isn’t an option, you can move on to assessing technologies that improve engine and propulsion performance alongside energy-saving devices (ESDs). Various individual ESDs can reduce EEXI value
marginally (2-5%); these include shaft generators, devices for improving hydrodynamic performance, and waste-heat recovery. One attractive alternative that may reduce EEXI values considerably is windassisted propulsion; our research shows that even moderate wind-assisted propulsion combined with several other technologies could reduce EEXI values by 10-15%. Carbon capture is an additional future measure to reduce the ship’s footprint. Depending on a potential carbon tax introduced for fuels, we estimate a realistic payback time for carbon capture, with an emission reduction rate of 25-40%, of less than five years. However, it is yet unknown how it will be considered in the EEXI calculation or CII reporting. For all ships, it is important to be aware that good EEXI performance doesn’t guarantee an acceptable CII result. In addition, EEXI is a ‘one-time’ check, whereas CII is the required level of ship ‘carbon performance’ that will be assessed continually. Figure 2 shows certain selected results from an energy-saving project performed for a gas carrier. The outcomes of energy simulations of the ship, including the dynamic weather profile, are illustrated as the impact on the ship’s EEXI and CII. The example studied technologies included air lubrication,
MARITIME Fig. 1. Propulsion power scatter
Source for all figs.: Deltamarin
specific hydrodynamic performance impacting devices, and Flettner rotors. Everything was compared against the baseline, which included a shaft generator (PTO) for the ship. The EEXI target line is presented as a solid black line, and we can see that only a vessel without any ESDs or a PTO wouldn’t fulfil the EEXI requirements. The ESDs’ impact on a ship’s CII is a much more complex question since the vessel’s operating profile plays a crucial role here. The project included several operational strategies for the ship, including minimised time in port or high speed and average speed profiles. The results of the CII simulation are visualised in Figure 2 with the orange indicators. The performance is compared against the CII target baseline year 2019, 2026, and the estimated target for 2030 (if the vessel intends to remain in the target operational category). We can observe that a combination of ESDs and the most efficient operational strategy would likely keep the ship in the desired performance category long after 2030. The optimal improvement mix Calculating the CII rating is straightforward. All you need is the annual fuel consumption (converted to carbon emissions with a fuel-specific carbon factor), the distance the ship travelled, and its capacity. Any tonnage landing in the
Members of Deltamarin’s Energy Team performing energy flow measurements on board a ship (from left: Ville Valtanen, Bogdan Molchanov, Shqipe Buzuku, and Mia Elg); photos: Deltamarin
D-band for three consecutive years or getting an E-rating in a single year will need an improvement action plan. I suggest that optimisation investment should focus more on CII but still keep the vessel’s ‘real’ carbon/environmental footprint in mind. This is because the relationship
between EEXI vs CII vs actual energy efficiency is not always linear. The rules are constantly developing and will be corrected towards real environmental impact. Getting the optimal improvement mix requires ‘energy modelling’ that simulates the vessel’s operational profile, pieces of 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 47
MARITIME Fig. 2. Operating profile and design alternatives of a gas carrier
machinery, and available fuel options. Our research shows that energy modelling and related analysis can greatly impact CII performance and power consumption per mode. For a newly built ship, it is clear that an energy model should be formed to simulate the impact of various design choices, technologies or fuels on both ship fuel consumption and CII. But this is the method also for retrofit projects. According to the earlier example, the operational profile has a massive CII impact. An energy model systematically represents the ship’s energy consumers and producers (machinery), fuel qualities, and operational characteristics. Typically, the energy-saving potential can be found in all ship parts. Still, to generate a considerable impact to vessel fuel consumption and CII, it is reasonable to focus firstly on the largest energy-consuming groups: propulsion in all ship categories generally. On the other hand, the propulsion-related improvements sometimes become so costly that the investment is not necessarily profitable or imposes too large of a risk for the shipowner considering the vessel’s age and overall condition. Nevertheless, Deltamarin has, during the past years, performed several retrofit projects to improve the hydrodynamic performance of ships with somewhat limited modification area to their hulls. In these cases, the energy savings have been close to, or exceeded, 10% of the yearly fuel consumption. These improvement types are possible, especially in vessels operating far from their design condition. In addition to propulsion, Deltamarin’s Energy Team has analysed various other improvements in ship machinery, such as converting their waste heat to electricity or cooling onboard. Especially with heat flow-related process modelling, it isn’t easy to obtain reliable measurement data for the simulations from the ship. In this case, it is necessary to confirm 48 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
the findings of the energy modelling during an onboard audit, where measurements in the heat systems are performed.
Any energy-saving method applied on a typical cargo ship will bring similar savings in the CII context. This is not always the case with a typical passenger ship because the calculation punishes vessels with large hotel-load and which spend considerable time in port (although shore power is a sound CII performance improvement method). For the pocket and the environment Since there is no guarantee that the CII correction factors under discussion, still after MEPC 78 on 6-10 June 2022, will be introduced in the final International Maritime Organization’s rules, I recommend focusing on the ship’s actual carbon footprint as the basis for investment decisions as the most future-proof way forward.
MARITIME Fig. 3. Ship energy consumers
Additionally, while the regulation involves no hard punishment and owners will have several years to improve scores, the effective drivers for good CII performance will likely be commercial ratings. Being a low performer will be neither good PR nor business. In other words, the more energy saved in times of high fuel prices, the better – for your pocket and the environment. Deltamarin is one of the leading companies in ship design and offshore engineering in the world. Services are offered from concept development and engineering to projec t management during shipbuilding and commissioning as well as a wide range of services for operating vessels to maintain the fleet in excellent condition or even upgrade it. The company has invested extensively in developing sustainable and cost-efficient designs both for cargo and passenger vessels. Please check www.deltamarin.com for more info. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 49
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Digitalization creates safe, green and efficient intelligence for ports of the future.
Port of Kaskinen (Kaskisten satama) is located on the western coast of Finland, in the Gulf of Bothnia. It is one of the most important Finnish exporting ports for sawn timber and pulp, and it is also specialised in handling chemical industry products and bulk cargo. The Port of Kaskinen handles over 1 million tons of goods annually.
WWW.PORTOFKASKINEN.FI
REPORT
Baltic bulk market in 2021 by Marek Błuś and Przemysław Myszka With 570.1 million tonnes, every six in ten tonnes going through the quays of Baltic seaports comes in bulk – liquid or dry – even though the 0.3% year-on-year downtick meant that the regional port market became more ‘generalised’ in 2021 (like it did in 2020, too). Other than that, there weren’t many changes – Poland overtook Denmark as the region’s fourth-biggest bulk-handling nation. The Top 10 composition also remained almost intact, with Szczecin-Świnoujście substituting Riga on the last spot, plus some internal shuffling (still, the Top 4 are the same as last year – we’ll see how that changes after 2022). Altogether 59 seaports handled at least one million tonnes of bulk goods, one harbour less than last year (though five ports came close – Halmstad-Varberg, Vyborg, Kolding, Stockholm, and Køge – landing in between 930-990kt). 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 51
REPORT Tab. 1. Baltic Sea region’s (BSR) ports’ bulk turnover in 2020-2021 (thousand tonnes)1
1
№
Country
2021
2020
yoy
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Russia Sweden Finland Poland Denmark Lithuania Latvia Estonia Germany Total
209,730 84,529 59,520 58,160 53,735 37,341 28,379 21,420 17,329 570,143
195,319 88,615 66,235 52,880 53,421 40,580 32,566 25,673 16,606 571,895
+7.4% -4.6% -10.1% +10.0% +0.6% -8.0% -12.9% -16.6% +4.4% -0.3%
Share of total bulk 2021 2020 2021-2020 [pp] 36.79% 34.15% +2.63pp 14.83% 15.49% -0.67pp 10.44% 11.58% -1.14pp 10.20% 9.25% +0.95pp 9.42% 9.34% +0.08pp 6.55% 7.10% -0.55pp 4.98% 5.69% -0.72pp 3.76% 4.49% -0.73pp 3.04% 2.90% +0.14pp Bulk’s share of grand total
Share of country’s grand total 2021 2020 2021-2020 [pp] 81.11% 80.88% +0.22pp 50.26% 52.87% -2.61pp 57.38% 60.24% -2.86pp 60.16% 59.74% +0.42pp 57.01% 58.53% -1.52pp 75.06% 78.75% -3.70pp 68.00% 72.48% -4.48pp 54.36% 68.12% -13.76pp 28.58% 30.72% -2.14pp 62.45% 64.47% -2.02pp
All tabs.: only Russian and German Baltic ports; all Danish ports
Tab. 2. BSR’s ports that handled over 1.0mt of bulk cargo in 2021 – total, liquid, and dry (thousand tonnes) Total bulk № Country
Port
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Ust-Luga Primorsk Klaipėda Gdańsk St. Petersburg Gothenburg Sköldvik Brofjorden Vysotsk SzczecinŚwinoujście Top 10 Riga Rostock Tallinn Gdynia Ventspils Būtingė Sillamäe Statoil-havnen Luleå Kaliningrad Kokkola CopenhagenMalmö ADP (FredericiaNyborg-Middelfart) HaminaKotka Liepāja Raahe Aarhus Oxelösund Pori Stenungsund Naantali Karlshamn Nynäshamn Oljehamn Gävle
RU RU LT PL RU SE FI SE RU
10 PL 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
LV DE EE PL LV LT EE DK SE RU FI
22 DK-SE 23 DK 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
FI LV FI DK SE FI SE FI SE
33 SE 34 SE
Liquid bulk
Dry bulk
2021
2020
yoy
2021
2020
yoy
112,059 52,999 29,298 29,220 20,729 19,484 19,250 19,200 16,862
100,040 49,302 32,729 24,877 19,895 22,417 23,358 17,400 18,584
+12.0% +7.5% -10.5% +17.5% +4.2% -13.1% -17.6% +10.3% -9.3%
56,074 52,999 6,820 18,570 11,487 19,236 18,847 19,200 12,558
53,966 49,302 9,058 13,474 11,428 22,291 22,887 17,400 11,793
+3.9% +7.5% -24.7% +37.8% +0.5% -13.7% -17.7% +10.3% +6.5%
Share of the port’s total 50.04% 100% 23.28% 63.55% 55.42% 98.73% 97.91% 100% 74.48%
16,760
15,177
+10.4%
7,700
6,566
+17.3%
335,861 13,726 10,998 10,684 10,530 8,440 7,991 7,683 7,563 7,463 6,093 5,944
323,779 15,947 10,200 13,450 10,945 10,381 7,851 9,344 7,370 8,250 6,307 6,194
+3.7% -13.9% +7.8% -20.6% -3.8% -18.7% +1.8% -17.8% +2.6% -9.5% -3.4% -4.0%
223,491 2,269 3,210 7,180 3,100 5,992 7,991 5,443 7,563 218 1,474 538
218,165 2,764 2,920 9,028 2,367 8,303 7,851 6,099 7,370 305 2,160 530
5,790
6,392
-9.4%
2,808
5,416
4,987
+8.6%
5,384 5,270 4,914 4,245 3,373 3,216 2,980 2,466 2,454
5,974 5,399 4,070 4,056 3,729 2,602 3,063 5,690 2,655
-9.9% -2.4% +20.7% +4.7% -9.5% +23.6% -2.7% -56.7% -7.6%
2,300
2,300
2,248
3,013
52 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
2021
2020
yoy
55,985 – 22,478 10,650 9,242 248 403 – 4,304
46,074 – 23,671 11,403 8,467 126 471 – 6,791
+21.5% – -5.0% -6.6% +9.2% +96.8% -14.4% – -36.6%
Share of the port’s total 49.96% – 76.72% 36.45% 44.58% 1.27% 2.09% – 25.52%
45.94%
9,060
8,611
+5.2%
54.06%
+2.4% -17.9% +9.9% -20.5% +31.0% -27.8% +1.8% -10.8% +2.6% -28.5% -31.8% +1.5%
66.54% 16.53% 29.19% 67.20% 29.44% 71.00% 100% 70.84% 100% 2.92% 24.19% 9.05%
112,370 11,457 7,788 3,504 7,430 2,448 – 2,240 – 7,245 4,619 5,406
105,614 13,183 7,280 4,422 8,578 2,078 – 3,245 – 7,945 4,147 5,664
+6.4% -13.1% +7.0% -20.8% -13.4% +17.8% – -31.0% – -8.8% +11.4% -4.6%
33.46% 83.47% 70.81% 32.80% 70.56% 29.00% – 29.16% – 97.08% 75.81% 90.95%
3,715
-24.4%
48.50%
2,982
2,677
+11.4%
51.50%
4,257
4,058
+4.9%
78.60%
1,159
929
+24.8%
21.40%
2,623 546 – 1,333 737 1,352 2,980 1,889 1,706
3,395 598 – 1,250 1,066 1,432 3,063 5,059 2,111
-22.7% -8.7% – +6.6% -30.9% -5.6% -2.7% -62.7% -19.2%
48.72% 10.36% – 31.40% 21.85% 42.04% 100% 76.60% 69.52%
2,761 4,724 4,914 2,912 2,636 1,864 – 577 748
2,579 4,801 4,070 2,806 2,663 1,170 – 631 544
+7.1% -1.6% +20.7% +3.8% -1.0% +59.3% – -8.6% +37.5%
51.28% 89.64% 100% 68.60% 78.15% 57.96% – 23.40% 30.48%
+/-0%
2,300
2,300
+/-0%
100%
–
–
–
–
-25.4%
1,383
2,156
-35.9%
61.52%
865
857
+0.9%
38.48%
REPORT Total bulk № Country Port 35 36 37 38 38 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
SE DK DK DK FI SE SE DK FI FI DK DK DK SE DE DK DK DK FI PL DE FI SE SE DK
Slite Aalborg Stigsnæs Aalborg Portland Inkoo Norrköping Mälarhamnar Aabenraa Tornio Uusikaupunki Asnæsverket Odense Esbjerg Skellefteå Wismar Avedøreværket Thyborøn Randers Helsinki Police Lübeck-Travemünde Oulu Vänerhamn Storugns Vordingborg
Liquid bulk
Dry bulk
2021
2020
yoy
2021
2020
yoy
2,200 2,192 2,186 2,118 2,061 2,054 1,950 1,868 1,855 1,852 1,799 1,766 1,692 1,654 1,574 1,446 1,418 1,409 1,376 1,356 1,204 1,180 1,147 1,147 1,012
2,300 2,400 1,896 2,319 3,378 2,412 1,884 1,664 1,785 1,645 1,424 1,755 1,836 1,522 1,538 886 1,457 1,065 1,370 1,596 1,312 1,361 1,187 1,187 922
-4.3% -8.7% +15.3% -8.7% -39.0% -14.8% +3.5% +12.3% +3.9% +12.6% +26.3% +0.6% -7.8% +8.7% +2.3% +63.2% -2.7% +32.3% +0.4% -15.0% -8.2% -13.3% -3.4% -3.4% +9.8%
– 844 2,186 – 516 1,186 783 169 140 265 1,671 15 449 698 – – 88 4.0 38 190 – 770 147 9.0 –
– 901 1,896 – 617 1,396 767 170 84 230 1,282 70 548 690 105 – 74 – 53 53 – 950 157 9.0 –
– -6.3% +15.3% – -16.4% -15.0% +2.1% -0.6% +66.7% +15.2% +30.3% -78.6% -18.1% +1.2% -100% – +18.9% – -28.3% +258% – -18.9% -6.4% +/-0% –
Share of the port’s total – 38.50% 100% – 25.04% 57.74% 40.15% 9.05% 7.55% 14.31% 92.88% 0.85% 26.54% 42.20% – – 6.21% 0.28% 2.76% 14.01% – 65.25% 12.82% 0.78% –
2021
2020
yoy
2,200 1,348 – 2,118 1,545 868 1,167 1,699 1,715 1,587 128 1,751 1,243 956 1,574 1,446 1,330 1,405 1,338 1,166 1,204 410 1,000 1,138 1,012
2,300 1,499 – 2,319 2,761 1,016 1,117 1,494 1,701 1,415 142 1,685 1,288 832 1,433 886 1,383 1,065 1,317 1,543 1,312 411 1,030 1,178 922
-4.3% -10.1% – -8.7% -44.0% -14.6% +4.5% +13.7% +0.8% +12.2% -9.9% +3.9% -3.5% +14.9% +9.8% +63.2% -3.8% +31.9% +1.6% -24.4% -8.2% -0.2% -2.9% -3.4% +9.8%
Share of the port’s total 100% 61.50% – 100% 74.96% 42.26% 59.85% 90.95% 92.45% 85.69% 7.12% 99.15% 73.46% 57.80% 100% 100% 93.79% 99.72% 97.24% 85.99% 100% 34.75% 87.18% 99.22% 100%
Photo: Liepāja Special Economic Zone Authority
5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 53
REPORT
Photo: Port of Aalborg
Tab. 3. BSR’s ports’ liquid bulk turnover in 2020-2021 (thousand tonnes) № 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Country Russia Sweden Poland Finland Denmark Lithuania Estonia Latvia Germany Total Liquid’s share of total
2021 134,608 56,968 29,560 28,000 22,985 14,941 13,770 8,824 3,224 312,880 34.27%
2020 128,659 60,197 22,460 35,800 24,351 16,909 15,630 11,683 3,057 318,746 35.93%
yoy +4.6% -5.4% +31.6% -21.8% -5.6% -11.6% -11.9% -24.5% +5.5% -1.8% -1.66pp
Share 2021 43.02% 18.21% 9.45% 8.95% 7.35% 4.78% 4.40% 2.82% 1.03%
Share 2020 40.36% 18.89% 7.05% 11.23% 7.64% 5.30% 4.90% 3.67% 0.96%
Share 2021-share 2020 +2.66pp -0.68pp +2.40pp -2.28pp -0.29pp -0.53pp -0.50pp -0.85pp +0.07pp
yoy +3.9% +7.5% -13.7% +10.3% -17.7% +37.8% +6.5% +0.5% +1.8% +17.3% +3.6% -1.8% +3.74pp
Share 2021 24.96% 23.59% 8.56% 8.55% 8.39% 8.27% 5.59% 5.11% 3.56% 3.43%
Share 2020 24.87% 22.72% 10.27% 8.02% 10.55% 6.21% 5.44% 5.27% 3.62% 3.03%
Share 2021-share 2020 +0.09pp +0.87pp -1.71pp +0.53pp -2.16pp +2.06pp +0.15pp -0.15pp -0.06pp +0.40pp
Tab. 4. BSR’s Top 10 liquid bulk ports in 2021 (thousand tonnes) № 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Country RU RU SE SE FI PL RU RU LT PL
Port Ust-Luga Primorsk Gothenburg Brofjorden Sköldvik Gdańsk Vysotsk St. Petersburg Būtingė Szczecin-Świnoujście Top 10 Total liquid bulk Top 10’s share
54 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
2021 56,074 52,999 19,236 19,200 18,847 18,570 12,558 11,487 7,991 7,700 224,662 312,880 71.80%
2020 53,966 49,302 22,291 17,400 22,887 13,474 11,793 11,428 7,851 6,566 216,958 318,746 68.07%
REPORT Tab. 5. BSR’s ports’ dry bulk turnover in 2020-2021 (thousand tonnes) № 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Country Russia Finland Denmark Poland Sweden Lithuania Latvia Germany Estonia Total Dry bulk’s share of total
2021 75,122 31,520 30,750 28,600 27,561 22,400 19,555 14,105 7,650 257,263 28.18%
2020 66,660 30,435 29,070 30,420 28,418 23,671 20,883 13,549 10,043 253,149 28.54%
yoy +12.7% +3.6% +5.8% -6.0% -3.0% -5.4% -6.4% +4.1% -23.8% +1.6% -0.36pp
Share 2021 29.20% 12.25% 11.95% 11.12% 10.71% 8.71% 7.60% 5.48% 2.97%
Share 2020 26.33% 12.02% 11.48% 12.02% 11.23% 9.35% 8.25% 5.35% 3.97%
Share 2021-share 2020 +2.87pp +0.23pp +0.47pp -0.90pp -0.51pp -0.64pp -0.65pp +0.13pp -0.99pp
yoy +21.5% -5.0% -13.1% -6.6% +9.2% +5.2% +7.0% -13.4% -8.8% -4.6% +4.2% +1.6% +1.39pp
Share 2021 38.15% 15.32% 7.81% 7.26% 6.30% 6.17% 5.31% 5.06% 4.94% 3.68%
Share 2020 32.71% 16.80% 9.36% 8.09% 6.01% 6.11% 5.17% 6.09% 5.64% 4.02%
Share 2021-share 2020 +5.45pp -1.48pp -1.55pp -0.84pp +0.29pp +0.06pp +0.14pp -1.03pp -0.70pp -0.34pp
Tab. 6. BSR’s Top 10 dry bulk ports in 2021 (thousand tonnes) № 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Country RU LT LV PL RU PL DE PL SE FI
Port Ust-Luga Klaipėda Riga Gdańsk St. Petersburg Szczecin-Świnoujście Rostock Gdynia Luleå Kokkola Top 10 Total dry bulk Top 10’s share
2021 55,985 22,478 11,457 10,650 9,242 9,060 7,788 7,430 7,245 5,406 146,741 257,263 57.04%
2020 46,074 23,671 13,183 11,403 8,467 8,611 7,280 8,578 7,945 5,664 140,876 253,149 55.65%
Photo: Port of Sillamäe
5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 55
Baltic Ports Conference 2022 concludes by Andrzej Urbaś, Communication Manager, BPO The Baltic Ports Conference 2022 concluded in Gdynia on 8 September. It was the first face-to-face meeting of the Members of the Baltic Ports Organization (BPO) since the outbreak of the pandemic, hosted this year by the Port of Gdynia and gathering over 150 participants. The main discussion revolved around the current geopolitical situation in the Baltic Sea region (BSR) and Europe and their impact on the maritime transport sector.
D
uring the opening speeches, K i m mo Na s k i, BP O’s Chairman, Katarzy na Gruszecka-Spychała, City of Gdynia’s Deputy Mayor, and Maciej Bąk, the Port of Gdynia’s Board’s VP, underscored the need to view seaports as strategic assets of the European Union in these times of change. Russia’s war of aggression brings new challenges that will continue to impact the economy and trade in Europe significantly. Resilience above all In his keynote speech, Aaron Korewa (Atlantic Council) stated that Russian aggression is currently the most challenging issue for Europe since the outbreak of World War II. If all pieces fall right, Europe and the EU part of the Baltic may ensure their security for many years. But it is paramount to remain vigilant. It can only happen under an increased crossBaltic collaboration. It will fail if the north and south coasts of the Baltic Sea stay separated security-wise; safeguarding it will require political impetus, time, resources, and shared risk. Geopolitics was also the main subject of the event’s first two discussion panels. Representatives from the European Sea Ports Organisation, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Polish Economic Institute, and the Port of Riga cited 56 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
resilience as the key factor in a time of heightened uncertainty. Agile cooperation and long-term planning, essentially looking beyond the war, are required to face the consequences that are sure to follow. Those broad strokes were then analysed in more detail by guests from the ports of Helsinki, Rostock, and Ystad, as well as Unifeeder. The panellists went deeper into the concrete effects the under-sanction trade has had on their business. Further aspects were explored by Dr Dorota Książkiewicz (University of Gdańsk), citing, a.o., rising military expenditures, tightening credit availability, and concerns related to costs and stability of energy sourcing as further challenges that economies and industries will have to tackle. A new scene for Baltic ports One of the event’s highlights was the presentation based on the upcoming BPO report Baltic Sea Region – a new scene for Baltic ports. The document offers an in-depth analysis of the new political situation in the BSR, the consequences of sanctions and counter-sanctions the West imposed on Russia and Belarus on international trade, outlooks for economy and trade in the BSR, energy security issues, and much more. The presentation highlighted the impact the war has had on many cargoes,
including liquefied natural gas (LNG), coal, and containers – internationally and in transit. For LNG, imports in Świnoujście and Klaipėda rose by 35% and 44.1%, respectively, between January and June 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Since many European countries used to import coal from Russia, bans on these affected them in a significant way. In the case of Polish ports, coal throughput registered a Q2 2022 bump of 62.5% year-on-year. Looking at transit cargo, Klaipėda, the prime export port for Belarusian fertilisers, observed a drop of 50.8% yoy in H1 2022. HaminaKotka was also affected, noting a decrease of 21.4% yoy in Q2 2022. “Given the uncertain and dynamically evolving geopolitical situation in Europe, which also greatly affects the Baltic port sector, it was a natural step to prepare a comprehensive document highlighting the most important aspects and acting as a source of information for our Members and other stakeholders involved in the maritime community. We believe that the report will enhance the decision-making process of its readers and contribute to the development of their business in these challenging times,” Bogdan Ołdakowski, BPO’s Secretary General, said. The report mentioned above is packed with far more data and evaluation, which is impossible to cover in the scope of a single
Photos: BPO
presentation. The publication will be made available by the BPO Secretariat upon request. Energy transition as both a challenge and an pportunity The agenda of this year’s Baltic Ports Conference couldn’t exclude the challenges and opportunities related to the upcoming energy transition. Asked whether the goals stated within the European Green Deal for shipping are achievable, Steve Esau (SEALNG) answered: “yes, but…” It will all depend on the final greenhouse gas intensity limit trajectory agreed upon for the FuelEU Maritime regulation and the readiness to act with pragmatism over idealism. Regarding preparing for the opportunities the transition will open before ports, Algis Latakas (Port of Klaipėda) underlined the need for investments in modern infrastructure as a prerequisite for entering new markets and changing
trade routes. However, these investments need to be evaluated very carefully as they are linked to the characteristics of a given port, such as the type of traffic it handles. They also may depend on local policies and regulations. According to representatives of the ports of Gdynia and Tallinn, and Ernst & Young, longterm thinking and betting on solutions that will remain in use while the energy mix changes will be critical. Technology at the forefront of change It was great to see numerous Conference Partners’ presentations showcasing some of their latest solutions, which can bolster the maritime sector’s quest for continuous competitiveness, sustainability, and operational efficiency. Karri Koistinen (GISGRO) shared his thoughts on utilising port environmental data in decision-making to get the most
out of green investments. Graham Howe (Marlin SmartPort) explained how daily port operations could be optimised by using digital tools (allowing us to give up on Excel once and for all). Lauri-Tapio Korhonen (Grieg Connect) proved that port call management from order to delivery doesn’t have to involve hundreds of emails and phone calls. Last but not least, Manu Grönlund (Enersense) introduced the benefits of a floating ro-ro pontoon. The event concluded with a boat trip organised by the hosts from the Port of Gdynia. The leisurely but informative tour allowed a look ‘from the waterside’ into harbour operations. Guests could relax and catch some sunshine after all the networking at the previous evening’s cocktail party, courtesy of Stena Line. The Baltic Ports Conference will return on 6-8 September 2023, hosted by the Port of Ystad.
BALTIC PORTS ORGANIZATION • Secretariat Office – Actia Forum Ltd. ul. Pułaskiego 8, 81-368 Gdynia, POLAND, ph.: +48 58 627 24 67, fax: +48 58 627 24 27, e-mail: bpo.office@actiaforum.pl, bpo.sg@actiaforum.pl, www.bpoports.com 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 57
Alleviating the reporting burden for better working conditions and improved ship operations
Obligation-turned-opportunity by Arnaud Dianoux, former Captain, Managing Director of Opsealog The promises of the digital era are high: data from onboard sensors and systems can provide unprecedented insights into a vessel’s operations, while digital reporting should reduce workloads for crews. However, the reality on board is too often such that digitalisation isn’t easing the reporting burden for seafarers, who instead see their workload increase. Reversing this trend will require companies to adopt a strategic approach to data collection and reporting – and truly make the most of these insights to deliver efficiency and sustainability.
I
n an increasingly digitised world, data from onboard sensors is a goldmine of information – helping shipowners measure their emissions levels, giving them a fact-based picture of their compliance with regulations, and facilitating their reporting to authorities. It also enables them to identify operational inefficiencies and track actions they take to reduce fuel consumption. This transparency and accountability will be increasingly important as the industry pushes ahead on decarbonisation and the use of new low-carbon fuels such as methanol, ammonia and hydrogen, all of which are likely to be more expensive than current fossil fuels. Data will be essential to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of each for a fleet’s specific operational context, as the optimal fuel choice is likely to be made on a vessel-by-vessel basis. Therefore, the industry is entering an experimentation phase in which several options are available, and shipping companies will need to determine the best fit for their ships. This exploratory period will have a huge impact on the work that seafarers have to do. And the burden of data collection on board is already increasing as more stakeholders are demanding access to vessel data from a growing number of installed sensors. It has reached the point where some crews spend so much time on data reporting that it impacts their other responsibilities. Like robots Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s recently published Safety and Shipping Review 2022 has recognised the risks associated with seafarer workload. Crews stuck in heavily pressurised working environments 58 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
are more at risk of making mistakes, and the insurer’s data shows that three in four shipping incidents involve human error. Seafarers consistently report on the issues in the latest editions of the Seafarers Happiness Index. In the recent report from Q1 2022, one seafarer said, “The workload is getting increasingly high with minimum crews on board, rest hours are only complied with on paper, yet none of the authorities pay heed. Shipping has become a floating jail where you’re just expected to work endlessly like robots without questioning the work scenario.” What went wrong? Obviously, new technologies should help ease data collecting and reporting. Why are then digital projects failing to deliver on this objective? Optimising data entry The reality is that digital tools are only one part of good data management. Digital technologies can help reduce the time spent by crew members inputting data on board. Still, if stakeholders fail to agree on which information should be collected and assessed, new reports will keep appearing, whereas existing ones will not disappear. All stakeholders, therefore, need to reach a consensus on what data is required and which key performance indicators (KPIs) should be used, rather than just insisting that information is collected to support their own KPIs in isolation from others. Software solutions for daily reporting aboard vessels should not add to seafarer workload by forcing them to replicate data collected across multiple interfaces. Instead, the software should facilitate and optimise data entry while mitigating errors. The data should then be ready to be integrated and shared automatically, saving
time and avoiding mistakes for shoreside personnel as well. Project planning should include an analysis of data redundancy. To have a homogeneous reporting framework that works across different departments in an organisation, stakeholders need to agree on a common vocabulary and set of definitions. For example, this means having a shared understanding of terms such as “cargo,” “incident,” “delay,” or “stand-by,” with stakeholders agreeing on what each term actually means and what data is to be gathered and reported. Front and centre Crucially, what is commonly missing is an authentic dialogue about the realities at sea. Captains and crew should be front and centre in digitalisation projects. The importance of their personal experience cannot be overstated. To be successful in digitalisation, project managers need people to talk about the realities on the ground and create a genuine dialogue. An excellent way to reduce emissions, for example, is to collect and analyse engine behaviour and utilisation data. In a perfect world, captains could easily boost the efficiency of their voyages by switching off engines or changing power configurations in response to relatively minor changes in weather or operational conditions. However, so many times, this is not the reality experienced by crews. When faced with fast-changing schedules and meeting demands from ashore, captains and chief engineers must use the limited time available to deliver safe and efficient operations while also addressing administrative demands. Organisations need to listen and ensure that digitalisation helps make work more
TECHNOLOGY
Photo: Canva
efficient – and improves seafarer welfare and quality of life on board. Collected data, lost insights Beyond collection, data needs to be processed and analysed to fully deliver efficiency gains. Therefore, it is essential to choose what data elements will be meaningful. The difficulty in achieving this is a consequence of the size and complexity of shipping organisations and the maritime industry’s digital ecosystem as a whole. There is often a lack of strategic planning and coordination in digitalisation projects, so while companies may not be struggling in digitising the reporting, they are not ensuring that data exploitation is optimised and workloads are reduced.
For instance, it’s ubiquitous to see reports from maritime systems, including vessel monitoring systems and even paper logbooks, fed into a database and then largely forgotten. The data may have been gathered for compliance purposes, but the opportunity to use it to improve safety or operational efficiency is lost. Analysis of multiple events of a similar nature can reveal recurring issues or operational trends. Once those are identified, action can be taken to prevent recurrence or better prepare crews for future occurrences. In the longer run, data-driven
insights may highlight the need for structural changes on newbuilds or inform decisions on new fuels and the energy transition. Beyond software Digitalisation is a long-term strategy. While it might be tempting to think that digital solutions are plug-and-play, delivering results instantly, the transformation goes beyond software, deep into the company’s ethos. And ultimately, creating an onboard digital culture should alleviate the reporting workload of seafarers – not add to it.
Opsealog is a French company specialising in performance management for the energy and maritime industries. Regarding the latter, Opsealog guides maritime leaders in their digital transformation, offering no-hardware-needed solutions that add to flexibility and agility by making data actionable. Head to www.opsealog.com to discover more. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 59
Why collecting and analysing data will make ship operations more sustainable and improve crew safety
Plug and play by Fitzwilliam Scott ioCurrents, a data analytics specialist, and ScanReach, a maritime wireless Internet of Things solution provider, have formed a strategic partnership to help ship operators and the offshore sector become more efficient and sustainable while safeguarding the safety of their personnel.
S
canReach has spent years researching and testing its systems to confidently offer the industry a robust wireless technology that will collect vessel data from onboard sensors without costly and disruptive equipment installations. The company’s wireless technology has been specifically developed for industry environments made of complex and confined steel environments, such as oceangoing vessels, offshore rigs, and wind turbines out there in the open sea. The data collected by ScanReach is sent to the cloud and analysed by ioCurrents using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to provide insights that will improve the safety and performance levels aboard vessels and on offshore installations. These real-time data sets allow ship operators to make informed decisions on key performance criteria like vessel voyage planning, maintenance schedules, and personnel safety. Depending on client requirements, alerts can be set up to notify operators on a variety of indicators. Reliability-centred The ioCurrents-ScanReach partnership will help to transform a client’s maintenance planning from engine hours or 60 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
calendar-based travel to data-driven decisions based on behaviour. By harnessing AI and machine learning, the ioCurrents system learns from each asset’s behaviour, alerting the client to any unusual outcomes that may need attention. This analytics technology can also be used to predict equipment failures after it has monitored a vessel’s performance for as little time as a month. It does this by having AI automatically generate machine learning models that monitor assets for malfunction, identifying anomalous behaviour. As a result, decisions can be made in advance as to when and where to repair or replace parts, minimising downtime and the need to scramble to organise an expensive emergency spare part shipment. A prime example is high-pressure diesel fuel pumps that can fail suddenly, ejecting metal and causing severe engine damage. Western Towboat, a customer of ioCurrents, has gone from multiple failures per year with high-pressure fuel pumps to zero in four years using this predictive technology. Similarly, by analysing live fuel burns and fuel flow data, crews can make strategic decisions on adjusting voyage routes to improve fuel efficiency, which will have the bonus of reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. One example is that ioCurrents can alert shoreside teams and the master when vessels run idle for over two hours to reduce wasted fuel, carbon build-up in the exhaust, and unnecessary hours on equipment. Consequently, this ‘heads up’ can change a fleet’s behaviour, encouraging captains to shut engines down when they know they will be waiting for extended periods. This will lead to reduced idle times, avoiding fuel burned unnecessarily, and prevent engines from running in their worst revolutions per minute bands to optimise the reliability-centred maintenance plan. Saving – time & lives ScanReach’s technology can also be used for onboard personnel tracking and location pinpointing during emergencies to aid precision rescue team involvement and mustering counts. Each employee wears a wristband that can be activated in an emergency so the master or senior personnel can view their approximate location on a screen. This saves time and could be lifesaving by cutting down the duration that a rescue team requires to reach those needing help. Also, this technology is expected to become particularly useful for offshore
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Photo: ScanReach
platforms as it can replace the manual clocking-in of staff. Any onboarding personnel wearing a wristband will be immediately logged as being present as soon as they enter the facility. ScanReach is already proven on ships, awaiting their first offshore platform installation pilot. Some companies also use this system to automate their walk-to-work gangway registration (e.g., to wind turbines or diver operations). ScanReach ’s w ireless solution makes data collection much more
straightforward than installing miles of cabling on a vessel or offshore platform, meaning less downtime for the operator. The ScanReach system can be installed in a few days rather than the weeks needed to run cabling around a vessel or offshore installation. Their tried-and-tested technology works on even the most complex steel environments, and their ‘plug and play’ solution means that clients can do the whole set-up themselves with minimal operational disruption.
Teamwork By working together, ioCurrents and ScanReach are providing their clients with actionable insights to help them improve their operational efficiency and, in doing so, reduce their impact on the environment. Equally, the technology also has the safety and welfare of crews as a priority, pinpointing the approximate location of personnel in emergency situations and reducing the time and risk taken to mount rescue operations.
Digitisation gives you the data. ioCurrents’ MarineInsight™ platform tells you the story. Through purposeful digitisation, we tell your team when, where, and why to pay attention to each asset on each unique vessel, offering the opportunity to gain efficiencies across fuel, maintenance, and voyages. Head over to iocurrents.com to discover more. ScanReach’s wireless IoT platform is custom developed for industry environments made of complex and confined steel environments such as vessels, rigs, and offshore wind turbines. The company aims to increase personnel safety and vessel performance with its solution, contributing to a more sustainable future. Go to www.scanreach.com to dive into more details. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 61
The why’s of port services digitalisation
A rising tide by Jason Berman, CCO, S5 Agency World The past decade has made the global supply chain increasingly intricate and unpredictable. Over time, the amount of data available to the shipping industry has sky-rocketed, allowing deeper insights into ways of working. For port services, in particular, digitalisation has tantalising untapped potential to create greater visibility and understanding of port transactions and operations to help meet the industry’s evolving needs and support more sustainable operations.
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oday, the rapidly decarbonising and digitalising shipping industry is changing at an unprecedented pace. Innovation and new technologies have been at the forefront of the movement to help drive the transition to a greener, safer, and more efficient shipping sector. Still underutilised Traditionally, various manual procedures, including emails and one-to-one phone conversations, have been used to handle port services. Some businesses still use desktop spreadsheets to coordinate port calls and track vessel status. This strategy is no longer viable for vessel owners and charterers in a world that expects greater responsibility, sustainability, and quicker decision-making from its supply chains. Those who have already adopted digitalised procedures are reaping the benefits. In turn, those who are yet to adapt face being on the wrong side of the sustainability movement. Digitalisation reduces laborious administrative procedures, freeing up time for leaders to focus on more pressing business issues and creating an organisation equipped to operate sustainably in an increasingly more competitive market. Artificial intelligence is also used in contemporary software to speed up tasks like scheduling. Not only does the digitalisation of port services make operations more effective and frictionless, but it also reduces risk and creates opportunities for businesses to create more value. 62 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
At present, the potential of digitalisation remains underutilised. Less than half of all seaborne vessel movements currently use digital hub solutions for port services. This means there is vast scope for improvements in resilience, transparency, and sustainability across the board. At S5 Agency World, we want to make the digital transition accessible to everyone. We do this by linking our IT solution, Simply5, with the clients’ platforms and helping to identify areas where we can drive efficiency and value. As all cargo owners know, port call procedures are a complex ecosystem prone to last-minute adjustments and involving many diverse actors. This complexity necessitates high-level synchronisation to accomplish efficient coordination. Business-critical papers, such as charter agreements, bills of lading, and port documentation, must be easily accessible. Thanks to a centralised, digital system, having documentation always on hand eliminates delays caused by lost paperwork, delivering smoother port calls and more efficient and sustainable operations. Everyone suffers Ports are essential in the shipping industry’s broader decarbonisation and environmental stewardship ambitions. The effective and safe management of port activities by all parties can benefit economic growth, mitigate supply chain risks, and improve environmental protection. The COVID-19
pandemic has been a stark reminder that when ports are impacted, everyone suffers. It is in the industry and its customers’ best interest for ports to run as efficiently as possible to reap the benefits of optimisation, which, in turn, leads to greater sustainability thanks to efficiency savings. While ports play a central role in the functioning of the global economy, due to the reliance on heavy equipment, trains, trucks and ships to operate, they are also sites of significant air and water pollution generation. By adopting digitalised processes that reduce time spent burning fuel in port by making calls more efficient, future port emissions can be considerably reduced. For port services especially, digitalisation can release untapped potential within businesses to help them meet their environmental, social, and governance goals. The benefits of greater transparency will help to raise standards further in the industry. Digitalisation will make it easier for teams with permission to access important information. This increased transparency, involving more accurate and precise records, will help individual companies comply with stricter governance requirements. In both the short-and-medium terms, a wide range of new compliance mechanisms are coming into play, with both net-zero targets for 2050 likewise the 2023-incoming Carbon Intensity Indicator and Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index.
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Photo: Canva
Lengthy port waiting times worldwide further demonstrate the need for quicker adoption of digitalised port services. Insight and analysis of data collected across thousands of port calls and available through a central, digital hub can help vessel and cargo owners optimise their approach to ports with long waiting times and continue to operate safely and sustainably. The next generation Another aspect of digitalisation is the draw it will have for a new generation working on and offshore. Gen Z and Millennials are digital natives who can provide a unique set of skills to the sector that will help it advance – but this workforce cohort does not always have the seafaring experience
that so many companies find beneficial. However, when paired with the exchange of structural information and background from older generations with experience at sea, the influx of workers born in the digital age creates ideal conditions for the further digitalisation of working practices. The sector may benefit from a changing workforce by implementing meaningful operational change to contend with the dynamics that are fast altering the shipping business. Digitalisation will provide a backbone for the transition to shipping’s
more sustainable future. Increased data access combined with greater transparency and info sharing will pull the entire industry forward as a rising tide lifts all boats. Those who fail to adapt to these new working realities will struggle to compete against more agile companies with more profound insights and an understanding of the pressures and areas for improvements in their businesses. This is critical for success in port services, paving the way to a more sustainable shipping & logistics industry.
S5 is a leading global port agency delivering services through more than 360 owned port offices. Our established presence in a competitive marketplace has been built on our reputation and ability to tailor our process-driven products to meet our client’s specific and evolving requirements. Set a course for s5agencyworld.com to discover more. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 63
Ways modern LED lighting can add to port resilience
In a new light by Mark Nailer, Head of Maritime EMEA, Midstream Lighting The global ports system’s resilience is being tested by a series of worldwide supply chain shocks: the post-pandemic trade rebound due to the accumulation of stranded cargo, sanctions against Russia, and climate change effects. Port operators, facing a juggling act to drive efficiency measures such as managing just-in-time operations, can potentially see their resilience compromised without the necessary support.
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orts and terminals have become accustomed to defending against risks, and major stakeholders expect ports to do all in their power to ensure safe, flexible, and reliable operations. This often means planning for the worst and hoping for the best. In practice, port authorities and operators have to do everything possible to ensure they can withstand a disruptive event through operational flexibility and safeguards. Frequently, the most effective way of achieving this is to widen the window in which work can safely be carried out. Visibility is often a key factor here. Clear weather can extend operating hours, with more cargo moved at night. Heavy rain or fog, on the other hand, reduces visibility, making the situation more difficult or unsafe for port staff. When a serious incident occurs, part or all of a port’s operations may be suspended for several days – seriously impacting staff welfare, logistics, and insurance. Delivered as infrastructure Good lighting contributes to the overall effectiveness of high-performing ports – particularly by preventing unnecessary disruption or downtime. Strong, high-quality lighting that properly illuminates congested areas, such as those with stacked containers, can cut through 64 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
adverse weather and safely extend a port’s operating window. The right solutions can also minimise the impact of dirty power scenarios in ports, whereby current pulses, voltage variations, frequency variations and surges occur, potentially damaging crucial equipment. Good design minimises the risks and creates more resilient systems with well-placed and appropriate circuit breakers, fuses, and switches. However, achieving sound results is not as simple as selecting a single lighting level. Lighting has to be delivered as infrastructure that complements broader systems and operating conditions. Ports need to consult with lighting suppliers to create holistic systems that perform optimally in a real-world bustling activity harbour environment. Sustainably superior Our company works as a partner from the very early design stages to scope out an operator’s lighting requirements to create bespoke systems that deliver the highest quality of light and resistance to even the most extreme weather. High-quality LED luminaires can achieve this. Additionally, LED lighting can reduce energy consumption by up to 70%, minimise light pollution, and reduce waste due to its durability. The solution is sustainably superior to legacy technologies relative to cost, lifespan, and energy efficiency.
Midstream’s LED systems are designed and tested to provide not only high lighting levels but high-quality uniform light distribution, allowing for superior visibility across the entire working site, often increasing light levels by more than 50% in a terminal’s darkest areas. These systems, coupled with comprehensive design, deliver high colour rendering light that enables neardaylight visibility in the most critical areas. Unlocking other performance gains Lighting is an investment that will pay dividends in improved productivity, safety and security, as well as significantly reduce energy consumption and lower energy bills. LED lighting can also unlock performance gains in other aspects of port operations, such as opportunities to invest in greater levels of port automation, among other cargo handling technology. Investment in improvements like new cranes will only fulfil their potential – and their return on investment – if harbours also invest in upgrading their lighting infrastructure. The fact that high-grade LED lighting can supercharge other aspects of performance is an attractive proposition for ports and terminals when it comes to large-scale investments in infrastructure – or when they have less access to capital but still need to find a cost-effective way to compete.
TECHNOLOGY Within reach for all – and today There has been considerable debate about the ‘terminal of the future’ concept. At the same time, there are proven technologies and solutions that should rightly take their place in today’s terminals. Smart technologies, such as LED lighting, are one great example. Modern lighting is a tech solution that can unlock a range of performance, financial, safety, and environmental gains that are within reach for all ports and terminals and important to securing their future success. Unfortunately, this is not widely understood, and it can take an accident to initiate lighting upgrades. According to a TT Club study from December 2019, lighting is recognised as a significant factor in the top 10 risks posed in container ports: either as an exacerbating factor if it is offgrade or as a valuable risk mitigator if it is up to modern standards. The adoption curve for many new technologies often resembles a hockey stick, with slow initial growth before a sudden acceleration. The misconception that a technology such as LED lighting is a ‘technology of tomorrow’ is consistent with this. Still, there is no time to waste when it comes to decarbonisation, and LED lighting will play a vital role in the ports and terminals’ ability to reduce the global supply chain’s carbon footprint. This issue is rapidly accelerating in importance. Lighting accounts for nearly 5% of global CO2 emissions, including logistics operations’ share within ports and terminals. Adopting LED lighting is a big step forward in improving environmental performance, particularly in energy usage.
Photos: Midstream
The multiplier effect of an investment in lighting adds to the benefits delivered by investing in other areas. In some cases, it can also offset the need for spending on other areas of infrastructure.
Resilience = competitive advantage Climate change is inextricably linked to the market forces currently causing congestion, as it has already increased weatherrelated delays. This will continue to be an issue for ports. HELCOM’s Climate Change in the Baltic Sea 2021 Fact Sheet indicates that annual mean precipitation is already rising in many parts of the region. In the future, many Baltic ports can expect a rise in sea levels and storm surges. The good news is that operators who want to build resilience and gain a competitive advantage can do so by putting the lighting infrastructure in their investment spotlight. From ship to shore, the right lighting is critical to the smooth and safe running of all port and maritime terminals – whatever their size. Whether it’s for an international container port, a local facility, or for maritime crane equipment, we’re dedicated to designing and delivering the most highly advanced, efficient, and innovative LED lighting solutions. Go to www.midstreamlighting.com to learn more. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 65
Improved ship & freight planning: from drowning in emails to having the digital business intelligence edge
Smooth flow of data – and cargo by Arto Viitanen, VP Product, Seaber.io There are few options to digitise processes for cargo owners that rely on contracts of affreightment (COA) and spot voyages. On one side of the equation, you have enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, possibly several of them, from where the maritime transportation needs are derived. On the other side, you have the shipowner’s voyage management systems (VMS), where seaborne transports are eventually created and managed. For almost every company, everything in-between is up to an offline protocol dependent on a mass (better still: mess) of emails and improvised spreadsheets.
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ost businesses have their lowtech way of performing the following core processes. First, sending COA cargoes or monthly volumes to shipowners; this is typically done using emails with spreadsheet attachments, either as monthly targets per commodity and port pair or as individual parcels. Second, the COA vessel nomination process: after planning or chartering and the final schedule preparation of their fleet, a shipowner sends a vessel and laycan proposal to the cargo owner for approval. Third, estimated time of arrival/berthing/ departure updates and resulting delays; these often originate from vessel’s noon reports or automatic identification system data and then are confirmed by ship operators (eventually, these data make it to all relevant stakeholders, like mills or consignees, in emails sent by agents or operators and/or logistics planners). Fourth, loaded cargo amounts are observed by the agents in the loading ports and reported to logistics planners as emails and bill-of-lading documents. Sixth, agents typically submit fact statements and demurrage calculations as email attachments. Lastly, voyage cost estimations and reporting, with freight, bunker adjustment factor (BAF), and other invoices, are often collected into spreadsheets and bookkeeping systems. The roadmap This is precisely where a specific customer of ours was traditionally a frontrunner, but 66 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
their in-house system was becoming technically obsolete. They were looking for a replacement and contracted us to build a unified scheme for managing these processes and communication flows. The first step in the Seaber process is to create digital replicas of the COA contracts one has with shipowners. The next step is when the company’s logistics planners make voyages by assigning the cargoes onto existing COA or new spot contracts. Once planned and published, the voyages are booked and communicated to shipowners, who can finalise the vessel nomination and provide a more precise ETA for the load port. At the same time, senders and receivers of the cargo are also made aware of the planned voyage, and agents get prepared to provide more detailed information about the port call. The lifecycle of a voyage ends in the last discharge port, where cargo measurement, statement of facts, and all other documents and invoices are filed in Seaber. The journey is then available for reporting and analysis. All accumulated data can be pulled from the Seaber system into spreadsheets or business intelligence tools. Next on the roadmap is the inclusion of demurrage and bunker adjustment factors, which, in combination with a third-party berth planning tool, congestion data and justin-time arrival tools, will make it possible to predict the effect of schedule changes and related costs already in the planning stage. Seaber provides user accounts and
detailed data access policies for all stakeholders. The accumulated information and communication are stored within Seaber and shared automatically with all relevant parties. Points of discontinuity Seaber is bridging the gap between ERPs, shipowners, and all other stakeholders. This gap-bridging continues on the other side of the table with Seaber’s Fleet Planning product, offered to shipowners and charterers with their fleet for optimising their chartering and vessel scheduling. “We have the tools to ensure smooth information flow all the way from cargo owner ERPs to shipowner VMSes by eliminating all existing points of discontinuity. We can predict the costs and durations of bulk and break-bulk shipping operations to the degree that we can assist in generating very realistic schedules with longer planning horizons for cargo flows and fleets,” Sebastian Sjöberg, CEO and Co-Founder, underlines. After the cargoes are planned onto COA’s, another significant point of discontinuity in the grand scheme of maritime digitalisation lies between the emails arriving in the shipowners’ inbox and their transformation into voyages in a VMS. A couple of steps are essential for efficiency, but lack proper planning, analysing, and communication tools. This refers to the scheduling dilemma and the selection of market cargo.
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Photos: Wagenborg Shipping
discover, iterate, and compare different schedule alternatives. Photo: Seaber
The former is about efficiently planning fixed- and COA cargoes onto the fleet. It’s incredibly hard to estimate the total cost and durations of a fleet schedule for a week. Making several scenarios of it and looking a few weeks ahead is a pipe dream. Closely related to schedule planning, there is the question of identifying the most profitable market cargoes, which are optimal for the entire fleet’s efficiency. Simply looking for profitable cargo for a single open position might be suboptimal for the whole fleet’s time charter equivalent. With the current tools, there’s no way to truly
One such alternative Improving the shipowner’s planning process might not directly affect the cargo owners’ bottom line. Still, the increase in fleet utilisation, reduction of ballast voyages, and better schedule predictability
will certainly positively impact freight rates and ensure more predictable and efficient operations. As it will take decades before the world fleet can expect a significant decrease in fossil fuel consumption, it’s essential to try to increase vessel utilisation and reduce ballast voyages in other (already doable today) ways. Seaber is providing one such alternative.
Seaber is a Finnish maritime software company dedicated to reducing inefficiencies, errors, costs, and the environmental impact of bulk and break-bulk shipping. Our bulk shipping software solution helps charterers and shipowners to plan, communicate, operate, and optimise cargo flows and fleet schedules, resulting in improved asset utilisation and profitability, streamlined port calls, as well as reduced fuel consumption and emissions. We are cooperating closely with charterer and shipowner companies to drive the digital transformation of maritime logistics of the entire shipping industry. Click seaber.io to learn more. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 67
VR & AR technologies in and around the ship
Extend your reality by Arbresh Ujkani and Markus Thielecke, Research Associates, Fraunhofer CML With the advancement of technology in recent years, the applications of efficient virtual (VR) and augmented (AR) realities have picked up speed. 360-degree head-tracking, offering a hi-res display and a high-frame rate, integrates the user with the digital environment stronger than ever. But it is not just the technology that’s improving. VR and AR are increasingly used to create value-adding applications in various industries rather than solely for entertainment. The nautical sector itself offers many use areas for supporting already existing systems.
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epending on the use case, AR and VR applications differ fundamentally. Reality is enhanced with digital objects in the case of the former, while you are wholly immersed in a virtual world with the latter. For this purpose, additional visual information or objects are displayed on an AR-capable device. All of this happens in real-time. AR and VR can work as standalone solutions or be combined to enjoy the best of both worlds in particular cases. Consolidating knowledge Training workers can be difficult and ineffective in the event of contact restrictions and time constraints of trained staff. Many instructions are location-bound and only possible at a specific period. Yet, learning success must be achieved. VR can help overcome these barriers. ‘Boarding’ a virtual world that the user can influence is ideal for knowledge-enhancing scenarios. VR can reproduce many work processes around the port and ship environment. Accurate training sessions in a virtual world can better prepare users for real-world events. 68 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
For example, Fraunhofer CML and FIP@S2-Novia worked on a fast rescue boat simulation. The user is on a ship deck, guided through the complete process: preparing the equipment, communicating with the ship’s bridge, lowering the boat, rescuing a POB (person-overboard), and returning and reattaching to the vessel. Users can move freely in the virtual world, with interactive overlays helping to find their way around and interact with it through inputs. The necessary work steps can be brought closer to the user in various ways. This technology is already used in the Aboa Mare Maritime Academy and Training Center in Turku. The big advantage is the immersion that the user is experiencing here. In combination with gamification, learning success can be increased. The scenarios are infinitely reproducible and modifiable. The applications can be launched at any time from home and do not take up the time of several people. Examples include safety protocol sequences (fire extinguishing, doctoring) and training sessions (fast rescue boat, crane control).
Increasing maritime situational awareness Other applications are AR-based. The fundamental difference compared to a VR application is that digital objects are projected onto the physical world. For this purpose, either special AR glasses or conventional smartphones are used. Since the perception of the real world is not affected by AR gear, they are particularly suitable for working around and on ships. While sailing a vessel, navigators need to form a mental picture of the current situation to predict how a given decision might affect future situation development (the scientific term for the quality of this mental image is “situational awareness”). Nowadays, navigators receive a large part of the information about the vessel and the environment from sensors and all kinds of interfaces and systems: automatic identification, global positioning, radio detection and ranging, and automatic radar plotting aid. Furthermore, the electronic chart display and information system exhibit the vessel and its movement on an electronic navigational chart, likewise of nearby
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Photo: Canva
ships in the automatic identification system’s range. Along with a compass, steering wheel, the global maritime distress and safety system, and communications with the outside world, these are instruments relevant to a safe navigation watch. All told, keeping track of everything all the time is a mammoth task. Moreover, one disadvantage of conventional displays is their high degree of abstraction with which information is presented. A navigator, for example, must do a certain amount of thinking to make the connection between the information displayed next to an abstract symbol on an electronic nautical chart and a ship visible in the environment. In addition, a particular piece of information is only available when the person on board is at a specific workspace location: in front of the display showing the required information. Usually, the navigator’s attention is evenly divided (or scattered) among several screens. AR offers a solution to most of these drawbacks: data sets from different systems can be merged and visualised according to the same design guidelines. Instead of distributing the various system information across multiple monitors at different physical locations, the data can be bundled and made available on demand. With the ability to place information about the state of the ship in the user field of view, AR offers the advantage that this
information is provided independently of the navigator’s position on the bridge, avoiding a division of attention between observing with one’s own eyes and receiving information from displays or manuals. This allows the navigator to spend more time watching the surroundings (‘headsup time’), which can save valuable time, especially in critical situations. AR can also superimpose whole areas in the environment with a semi-transparent overlay, making it possible for the navigator to identify risk areas immediately and change the vessel’s course to steer clear of danger. One challenge when developing AR solutions is to find a user-friendly interface. The balance between showing relevant information and preventing the user view field from cluttering must be found. Consequently, AR usability depends highly on a logic that prioritises information display. VR and AR combined Both technologies can additionally be used together to achieve optimal development results. A great effort must be expended in testing to develop
value-creating AR applications. Especially in the ship’s bridge area, it is not always possible to create optimal conditions to test at any time. Entire ships are busy elsewhere, and personnel may be working at full capacity. Some trials require particular weather conditions or environmental situations to be reasonably conducted. The probability of certain variables coinciding with the planned test time is very low. VR is optimal for addressing this issue. Solutions can be tested in a completely digital setting as an intermediate step to the real integration of AR applications. In this case, the ‘external circumstances’ can be changed and manipulated at any time, providing perfect test conditions. There is no time limit for the tests, and there is freedom in the design and distribution of the participants. As a result, workers are optimally prepared in the event of the integration of the AR application. The Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services CML researches these modern technologies. Check our Increasing Maritime Situational Awareness by Augmented Reality Solutions white paper to learn more.
The Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services CML develops innovative solutions for the maritime sector and the maritime supply chain. We support companies and institutions from shipping, port management and logistics in initiating and implementing future-oriented technologies and processes. Visit www.cml.fraunhofer.de/en.html for more details. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 69
Greening ferry ports by truck flow optimisation
Ready to roll? by Irina Wahlström, Magnus Hellström, Anastasia Tsvetkova, and Yiran Chen, Åbo Akademi University The Baltic Sea liner market’s ferry and ro-ro sectors are highly developed, offering abundant and frequent connections and services, handling the lion’s share of the regional intra-short sea shipping trade. Within the Baltic, the island-like Finland heavily depends on such services. Due to the country’s geography, scattered population, long distances and thin logistical streams, road haulage predominates as the overland transport mode.
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long with the greening of the maritime sector, ports, terminals, shipowners and operators are expected to adjust their operations in line with environmental and sustainability considerations. How could ro-ro ports, apart from providing necessary quayside facilities, extend their role and responsibility further as an integral part of the entire transport chain, alleviating externalities generated beyond the port boundaries, further to hinterlands and land-based modes? Various mechanisms and measures available to ports have been identified: pricing tools, investments in technology and dedicated infrastructure, and regulatory instruments. Still, a comprehensive study conducted among global ports indicates that only about a fifth of them implemented measures to improve the environmental performance of hinterland transport. Unexploited potential Typical challenges and bottlenecks caused by the entire ro-ro multimodal transport chain encompass uncoordinated road traffic (ebbs and flows of heavyduty lorries) and congestion within ports at ship arrivals/departures as well as in urban areas and their main approach roads. These problems are unlikely to diminish with the expansion of residential and recreational areas closer to attractive seafronts and the, in many cases, subsequent shrinkage of the port facilities and stowing areas. Furthermore, ferries and ro-ros are likely to grow in cargo capacity, further adding to the overcrowding of the road network. Traffic jams, in turn, give rise to idling and unnecessary emissions. Due to 70 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
relatively short distances over sea and ship turnaround times in ports, the wheeled cargo segment is more time-sensitive regarding timely and efficient loading and unloading procedures, as delays may be difficult to compensate for with speed out at sea. Accumulation of trucks in the harbour area and using it as a waiting/parking space long before the actual departure is also an unwanted phenomenon. This is mainly a consequence of a limited number of dedicated resting and parking areas for trucks in the port’s vicinity. Ports are increasingly implementing innovative technologies and digital applications, providing new opportunities for greater collaboration, sustainability, safer and better-optimised operations, and improved business performance. However, most research and development efforts have focused on measures and solutions introduced by large container ports, while (smaller) ro-ro ports and terminals have received lesser scrutiny. Hence, the potential of inter-organisational alignment and integration, data sharing, communication, and collaboration among actors within the entire end-to-end (intermodal) transport chain has not been fully exploited. An ideal situation Introducing an integrated just-in-time (JIT) solution (or ‘optimal arrival time’) offered by ro-ro shipping lines (in collaboration with ports specialised in taking care of wheeled traffic) to their road haulage customers would benefit all stakeholders’ operations and performance. The general concept of JIT truck arrival is to introduce a slot system (already in use in bigger container ports) to proportionally
distribute the arrivals of lorries approaching the terminal for departure. Truck drivers would be informed and called in when their vehicles could drive to the port area through a dedicated application or another interface. Such interfaces could be integrated with other applications used by truckers for relevant procedures and information like automated remote vehicle and driver check-in, gate access and booking verification, dynamic situational awareness (traffic disturbances, weather conditions, delays, etc.), and other services (location of close-by tanking stations and rest areas). To a pre-determined degree, the given slot times would enhance the arrival of specific trucks in certain batches, orderly and timely, befitting the actual – optimal – onboard stowing plan and order. The development and scope of the JIT concept could be taken even further. The language proficiency of a fair share of truck drivers is low, causing unnecessary communication barriers (primarily upon port arrival). Furthermore, these people may use a certain ro-ro service sporadically and therefore be unfamiliar with the settings and procedures, complicating the situation. A language translation solution interface integrated with the JIT concept could facilitate communication and comprehension of relevant information, streamlining the cargo flow. An ideal situation would be when trucks could wait for their slot announcement outside the port at a dedicated parking area. The distance to the harbour should be reasonable and the driving time easily assessed and predictable, both under normal traffic circumstances and at peak hours. Even better, an adaptable, smart traffic light management
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Photo: Jarmo Piironen/Port of Turku
system would facilitate smooth traffic flows and hinterland access. Frequent stops, idling, and accelerations due to uncoordinated/unsynchronised traffic light intervals and prioritisation would affect travel time and increase emissions and air pollution. Both elements are at least partly the responsibility of municipalities: to find and point out suitable places for truck parking and manage the traffic flows whilst minimising the externalities caused. While these may not belong to the municipalities’ scope 1 (or 2) emissions, this is a prime example of how the available infrastructure impacts the value chain (scope 3) footprint. Implementing a JIT solution would bring many benefits. Cities would get better air quality and enjoy less congested roads, becoming more pleasant places to live. Shipping lines would take advantage of better fleet utilisation by maximising the use of their lane metres cargo capacity while minimising port stays. Specific cargo-loading would be optimised, which will only grow in importance as more and more electric vehicles that will require charging while en route between ports will be transported in the future. Road haulage companies will improve their operational efficiency and cut fuel bills. Last but not least, ports will gain the upper hand by
offering swifter handling and making more of their existing (hardware) infrastructure. Environmental gains cannot be overstated in each of these cases. Holistic abatement gaps Actors across society, whether private or public, are implementing, revising, and augmenting their sustainable development strategies, which will affect the transport sector, a significant greenhouse gas emitter. The development of the transport system is a complex process, engaging several multilevel actors striving to satisfy alternative traffic demands, contributing to unhindered node accessibility and efficient and smart transport/mobility solutions. Mitigating ro-ro transport’s externalities seems siloed, limited to each actor’s measures. This situation leaves holistic abatement gaps in the transportation systems and logistics chains. Poor or modest collaboration and alignment of activities and measures among players, who do not reach beyond their organisational scope and boundaries, is one of the main culprits here. Ferry companies, port authorities, terminal operators, road hauliers, and digital solution providers are central in improving the overall performance of ro-ro operations and services. That said, there are other, more indirect
stakeholders whose engagement and input cannot be undermined or overlooked. It may not be evident for a political decision-maker why and how the municipality could engage itself stronger to enable better functioning and more sustainable ro-ro operations. Still, it should – as it would ultimately contribute to the municipality’s own sustainability goals and strategies. The idea and concept of JIT truck arrival in ro-ro ports have been researched as part of the Smart Terminals (SMARTER) project. It is a Business Finland-financed initiative aiming to develop solutions that benefit ferry and ro-ro harbours by optimising operations to reduce emissions. The project seeks broad societal influence by providing research-based recommendations on business and data usage & sharing – in and outside the port environment – to prepare for future steps towards smart and autonomous maritime transportation. SMARTER focuses on experiments speeding up ship turnaround times, optimising truck traffic, and improving terminal passenger flows. The project consortium includes cruise-ferry and ro-pax operators in trade between South-West Finland and Sweden, port authorities, research institutions, and various digital solution providers. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 71
EVENTS
Europe’s challenges in transport decarbonisation by Ewa Kochańska The XXV EuroMed Convention From Land to Sea, organised by the Grimaldi Group at the Hilton Sorrento Palace near Naples, Italy, was a gathering of port and government leaders as well as policy and logistics experts in the European maritime sector. The event took place from 29 September until 2 October 2022 in Sorrento, where the attendees took part in seminars and panel discussions about the energy transition, intermodality, and the sustainable future of the maritime sector. The annual event aims to promote short sea shipping in the European Union to improve the continent's economic, environmental, and social life.
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his year, while the Grimaldi Group celebrates 75 years of successful existence, some 800 delegates deliberated on various regulatory facets and transport demands of the transport sector and the motorways of the sea, such as the energy transition, its technological aspects, and intermodal solutions to deal with the constantly growing transport demand.
Regulation chasing innovation The convention began with greetings from the Greek Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Ioannis Plakiotakis, and European Coordinator for the Motorways of the Sea, Kurt Bodewig. Next, the Grimaldi Group Managing Director, Emanuele Grimaldi, gave his opening remarks, summarising shipping’s biggest challenges, especially environmental sustainability. “Particularly now, in the gas crisis due to the Ukrainian war, we have a window of opportunity during 2023 to address the issue of global measures on carbon emissions,” he said. Even in this unique geopolitical climate, Grimaldi is confident that an agreement on carbon taxation measures worldwide can be achieved. The first panel, titled Energy Transition: a technological challenge for Europe’s maritime 72 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
sector, debated EU policies and regulations, such as Fit for 55, the resulting taxes and their consequences, technological and investment challenges, and the need for, and too often lack of, international collaboration. “I believe shipping has a very bright future ahead,” said the panel moderator, Guy Platten, Secretary General of ICS, starting the discussion. “There are so many opportunities as we embark on our path to net zero emissions, and hopefully, 5% of ships will be burning the new, clean fuels by 2030 alone.” However, according to the panellists, what threatens the maritime sector at the moment is a patchwork of environmental regulations from the EU, the IMO, and individual governments worldwide, creating uncertainty for stakeholders. A regulatory certainty in the sector would encourage sustainable innovation and solid investments with a clear pathway forward. Another concern mentioned was the need for better communication with communities regarding sustainability. Annick De Ridder, the chairperson of the Antwerp Port Authority board, said that at the moment, the general public views businesses, factories, and shipping lines as the problem and the reason for the environmental crisis. “They have to make this mental shift because
Ricardo Batista
Mikael Makinen
Dario Bocchetti
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Ugo Salerno
Guy Platten
Photos: Grimaldi Group
Annick de Ridder
our companies are part of the solution,” she said, adding that there has been a lot of innovation and investments in sustainability and that it should be better communicated to the public.
Energy and operational efficiencies The speakers also underscored that it would be a mistake to move away from nuclear power in Europe due to false narratives about safety
Emanuele Grimaldi In welcoming port and industry leaders and experts from across Europe to the 25th EuroMed Convention From Land to Sea, Emanuele Grimaldi, Managing Director of the Grimaldi Group, spoke about the success of the 75-year-old company as well as the challenges facing the maritime sector, particularly concerning sustainability solutions and regulation. While addressing the issue of environmental regulation, Grimaldi underscored that since environmental sustainability is a global problem, it must be handled with global taxation measures instead of regional ones. He pointed out that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme regulation could trigger other regional actions causing a patchwork of legislation. “This would be an administrative nightmare for shipowners and Ministers, bringing the less certain rule of law and a reduced effectiveness of the measures,” he said. “A unique legislation, at IMO level, would do it much better.” Since most countries agree on finding a global carbon solution, Grimaldi sees a window of opportunity to reach a common ground with a “fair distribution of costs and benefits.” Grimaldi offered the company’s suggestions on the frame of market based measures in maritime, which include: taxing all ships over 5,000 GT based on their CO2 emissions during a calendar year – around 250mt of fuel per year; one part of that tax revenue would reimburse majority (quantum of reward based on 80% of the average global price of conventional liquid fuel oil during the five years preceding the implementation of the measure) of the extra fuel cost born by pioneers consuming green fuels, possibly leading to 5% of zero-emission ships by 2030 worldwide; the other part of the tax revenue would go to developing countries for producing green fuels out of renewable resources such as sun or wind. On an individual scale, the Grimaldi Group partners with various companies, such as RINA, Wärtsilä, and Corvus, seeking innovation and environmental solutions like autonomous ships, microplastic filters, atomic ships, battery packs, hydrogen-fuelled port equipment, and own patents as well. This year, the Grimaldi Group is also celebrating 75 years of ongoing success. Grimaldi highlighted that despite various challenges throughout the decades, most recently the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the Group has never closed a year in a loss. He attributed this achievement to company strategy, including reinvestment policies, fuel consumption reduction, and R&D activities. In conclusion, Grimaldi thanked his clients, stakeholders, and all employees of the Grimaldi Group but most notably, the seafarers whom he praised for their patience and dedication. “After the COVID crisis, it became evident the necessity to have even more consideration for the seamen’s health and welfare,” said Grimaldi. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 73
EVENTS concerns. Ugo Salerno, the managing director at RINA, called nuclear power generators “the safest technology” and “the least [environmentally] impacting power production that humans have discovered.” But because of Chornobyl, Europe has very strict regulations when it comes to nuclear generators, even though there have only been three accidents related to nuclear power in human history. Nowadays, nuclear power technology is much safer than in the last incident in Fukushima. “This is a safe technology and a friend of the environment,” said Salerno. This view was also supported by De Ridder, who stated that the wisest plan for sustainable energy in Europe includes a mixture of green fuels and nuclear. “I think it’s a huge mistake to step out of nuclear power as Europe,” she said. But it is not only fuels that play a role in making shipping operations environmentally sustainable. Ship efficiency related to “silicone paint, the Air Lubrication System (air bubbles covering the vessel’s hull bottom), special propellers, and so on, can reduce 20% or so of the energy consumed,” said Mikael Mäkinen, Corvus Energy chairman of the board. This is in addition to ports and ships, which are also inefficient at present. For example, ports have bottlenecks of vessels queueing at the entrance waiting to be processed, all the while ships, around 40% of which are not fully loaded, speed to the port, wasting additional fuel. “So, if you had fully loaded ships running at the right speed, having the right efficiency, with modern technology, you could save a lot of energy,” Mäkinen pointed out. To deal with some of these challenges, the EU should aid companies, ports, shipowners and other stakeholders in the energy transition rather than overtaxing and overregulating, according to some of the debaters. “Shipping and motorways of the sea should be seen as a partner for decarbonisation in Europe and not only as somebody to tax,” said Dario Bocchetti, Head of Energy Saving, R&D and Ship Design at Grimaldi Group. Bocchetti suggested that if taxation is too high and regulation too restricting, it will force more trucks back on the roads. Moreover, there need to be more investments directed towards sustainable technologies in Europe, and relevant regulation must be consistent with innovation; regulations cannot stifle progress in sustainability. As an example, Mäkinen mentioned battery production, which is dominated by Tesla and non-existent in Europe due to the lack of lithium. “There is [a lithium mine] starting up in Finland, which could be a 10% addition to the world lithium,” said Mäkinen. “And now, it is fighting with the environmentalists that we should not dig for lithium in Finland to make clean cars or clean batteries. So, I think that we are in a stupid situation here.” 74 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
EVENTS
Navigating uncertainty Ricardo Batista, Policy Officer at the European Commission DG-Move, acknowledged the above issues pointing out that “the regulator cannot be a monk, isolated in a church, drafting the regulations and then spelling them out.” However, he also highlighted challenges with varying technological and economic developmental levels among countries as well as difficulty in bringing everyone on board, for example, China or India, who still have not agreed to the 2050 carbon neutrality target. Nevertheless, Batista reiterated that a patchwork development of regulations is not acceptable in the sector. “Maritime transport is an important pillar of the economy, and regulations cannot destroy this pillar or make this pillar more fragile,” said Batista. “Quite the opposite, the regulatory development has a responsibility of reinforcing this pillar and making this pillar of our economy ready for the future.” The regulators also pointed out that the European Union policy is already in place to assist companies and ports in the transition. On the energy efficiency side, the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) at the EU level will “allow having a return on investment on energy efficiency technologies.” The way
that Fit for 55 is designed is to ensure that there is regulatory certainty and investment in infrastructure development. Strictly on the fuel side, FuelEU is “a regulation to promote the uptake of [green] fuels.” There already are many collaborative developments regarding fuels and fuel certification framework, advanced biofuels and synthetic fuels. “I think the value of the industry alliances is key,” said Batista. “The regulation in itself is an empty statement. It needs commitment from the operators, it needs facilitation and support of the industry.” Addressing the issue of battery production, the European legislators seem to be looking past lithium mining. “At the European level, we have the European Battery Alliance (…), which is looking beyond lithium,” said Batista. “There is an important work of technology cooperation that looks beyond lithium, and I believe that looking beyond lithium is part of the future sustainability of patent systems.”
Multimodality for sustainable transport The second panel of the day, Intermodal transport in the Mediterranean area: which toolbox for a sound growth?, focused on ambitious intermodal investments and developments in rail, road, and maritime in Southern Europe.
Capitalising on intermodality expansion, the region is creating ports that are not only able to resolve bottlenecks outside their entryways but can expand their capabilities; for example, the Port of Gioia Tauro, thanks to its new railway gateway “set the international competitiveness standard for rail cargo.” The panellists mentioned that in the switch to an intermodal system of transport in the south of Europe, cooperation has been crucial. In ports, shipowners and terminal operators have to work together to develop solutions that make the whole operation more efficient. Additionally, initially wary of the modal switch away from roads, trucking companies are now satisfied to create a win-win relationship in the new environment; they have been able to keep their drivers working in a reduced area, where they are more efficient. And unlike the previous panel about energy transition, here the speakers called for more concrete regulation efforts from the government to simplify the processes necessary for intermodality in order to refine operations and procedures and create a “slim, lean” easy-to-navigate system. Further, the convention included a press conference followed by the Grimaldi Excellence Awards Ceremony and a formal Gala dinner. 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 75
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Port of Gdynia’s centenary by Przemysław Myszka The world in 1922 looked a lot different from today. Four years earlier, Poland regained independence after being off Europe’s map for 123 years. The country first lost a considerable chunk of its connection to the Baltic Sea in 1772 (Elbląg) and 1793 (Gdańsk) when Prussia seized these lands, and then entirely in 1795 when what’s nowadays western Latvia and Lithuania was annexed by the Russians. In 1919, the Bolshevik regime attacked (so perhaps the early 20th century wasn’t all that different from now…), a blow that was successfully driven off the following year. In 1920, the newly born state had just a tiny stretch of coast (75 kilometres), with no genuine seaports since Gdańsk was declared a free city and unwilling to let Poland use its quays. Against this background of war and stitching together a state of different legal & cultural patches, the idea of turning a small fishing village into (in modern terms) a greenfield port was born. Fast forward 100 years, and in 2022 we are celebrating the centenary of what is today one of Baltic’s biggest universal seaports.
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n 23 September 1922, the Polish parliament decided that a brandnew seaport was to be set up – for commercial as well as naval use. The latter was critical, as in July 1920, Gdańsk’s Senate red-lighted the handling of ships with weapons and ammunition for Poland’s fight against the Red Army. In response, the country’s representative in Gdańsk, Mieczysław Jałowiecki, rolled up his sleeves and bought a few tugs and barges, meaning that cargoes could be reloaded at the barge quay, bypassing Gdańsk’s dockers and railwaymen, and farther floated up the Vistula to the Polish Tczew. Villagers from Gdynia also partook in this operation, helping with their cutters and boats. The engineer Tadeusz Wenda chose the location, designed the port, and then was in charge of building it (till 1932, when he started heading the Technical 76 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
and Construction Department of Gdynia’s Maritime Office). At first, however, the speed of construction works wasn’t breathtaking: some groundwork and erecting a temporary shelter for naval vessels and fishing boats. In August 1923, the French Kentucky was the first foreign-flagged ship to call to Gdynia’s wooden pier. It wasn’t a trouble-free visit, though. The vessel transported horses to Gdańsk and was meant to take on her board emigrants to the US. The authorities declined because of sanitary reasons, i.e., manure knocked around. They were allowed to get onto the ship in Gdynia. However, the holds were still foul, so they bolted outside, only to get forced by the police to get back... In 1924, a French-Polish consortium was commissioned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to further develop Gdynia: the goal was for the port to handle up to 2.5 million tonnes per year by 31 December 1931,
among others, by accommodating 25-30 vessels simultaneously. The Ministry began buying cargo handling equipment: portal cranes for coal and ore, a coal tippler, and mobile harbour cranes. The Treasury added four electric cranes. The port took care of 10kt in 1924, welcoming 54 ships. Half a decade later, some 2.92mt went through Gdynia’s quays (on board 3,106 vessels), surpassing Gdańsk’s pre-war (1912) volume of 2.45mt. Earlier, at the beginning of 1927, the flag was hoisted on Poland’s first large cargo steamship, the acquired in France Wilno (later joined by Kraków, Poznań, Katowice, and Toruń, all of them also born in France in Chantiers Navals Français). In June of the same year, the Gdańsk-constructed Gdańsk and Gdynia passenger-lounge ships entered the Polish seaport. Together with smaller units, they provided excursions across the Gdańsk Bay (occasionally international cruises, e.g., to
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Photos: Henryk Poddębski/Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe/Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Copenhagen). On 11 March 1930, the GdyniaNew York City line of the Polish Transatlantic Shipping Company was set up. Its successor (1934), Gdynia America Line, added a link to South America as well as the ConstanțaIstanbul-Jaffa-Haifa-Pireus itinerary. World War II brought nothing but misery to the port. Renamed by Nazi Germany as Gotenhafen, it was turned into a Kriegsmarine base. Bombed by the Royal Air Force in December 1944 and then captured by the Soviets in March 1945, Gdynia was ruined. That said, the seaport was relaunched in June 1945 and on 16 July, the Finnish steamship Suomen Neito came for coal. On 21 September 1945, Kraków returned to her homeport as the first vessel. Interestingly, the end of WWII reshuffled Poland’s port market anew. Whereas post the Great War, the country had to scramble to get at least one seaport, now it had (well, on paper, given the war devastation) Gdynia,
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Gdańsk, Świnoujście, Szczecin, and a handful of smaller harbours like Elbląg or Kołobrzeg (when on 18 March 1945, Poland’s marriage with the sea retook place). Notwithstanding the communist regime and the peculiarities of the planned economy (including handicapped trade with the “allied” USSR), Gdynia could once more start transshipping cargo. The world moved forward, and so did Gdynia, among others, beginning to build a container terminal in 1976. The passing of Communist rulership in 1989 brought about a new wave of challenges: getting the port fit for the market economy, restructuring the entire administration towards a landlord port authority model (Gdynia was the first port in Poland to complete the privatisation process), increasingly getting to know the Baltic’s trademark (wheeled cargo on board ferries and ro-ros), becoming the country’s prime cruise port (plus welcoming thousands of
Stena Line’s travellers to and from Karlskrona, nowadays from the brand-new Public Ferry Terminal), and what is the bread & butter of every port at any point in time: investing, investing, and investing (especially, if one’s port sits in the middle of a 244k citizen-big city). As such, Gdynia eyes moving outside its current premises into the open sea with the Outer Harbour project – primarily for handling containers but also serving the much-awaited offshore wind farms. The investment is meant to safeguard Gdynia’s prosperity during another centenary. On 23 September 2022, precisely one hundred years after the Polish parliament gave its go-ahead, the port authority celebrated the date by presenting The Constructors of Gdynia Port commemorative bench next to the Harbour Master’s Office. It shows the mentioned Tadeusz Wenda as well as Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski, the initiator of building the port in Gdynia. Happy anniversary! 5/2022 | Baltic Transport Journal | 77
TRANSPORT MISCELLANY
Punting post
Photo: Piotr Stanisławski
Travelling broadens the minds and widens the horizons, they say. Well, it sure did when we saw this picture taken by Piotr Stanisławski during an excursion through the canals of Spreewald. Before that, we thought that bicycle was the first and last human muscle-driven vehicle in the
postal fleet (there were – are? – postriders, of course). In the village of Lehde – rural Venice in Eastern Germany – a postie does one’s rounds by driving the boat with a punting pole. Now, here’s the question: what came first – the pole or the boat?
From North to South Ships born on the Baltic shores seldom grace minted-money reverses. If they do, it happens in the region only. Therefore, a coin made far, far, far away from the Baltic Sea – by Pobjoy Mint, authorised by the British territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands – cannot slip under the radar. The 50-pence coins, minted from silver and cupronickel, depict the German steam-and-sail corvette Moltke: the first steam-powered vessel which visited South Georgia 140 years ago. The ship was built in the naval shipyard in Gdańsk in 1877 and based in Kiel for many years. In 1882, the corvette was deployed to carry Germany’s first scientific polar expedition to South Georgia, a task she fulfilled in August. German scientists spent the whole year on the island making important observations as part of the first International Polar Year. But that’s another story… 78 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
Photo: Pobjoy Mint
TRANSPORT MISCELLANY
Difficult beginnings – for some Suppose you ask what happened 110 years ago with the Diesel engine in transport. In that case, everybody will probably answer that the first large diesel-powered ocean-going cargo ship Selandia entered service, ‘setting sail’ from Copenhagen to Siam. Two sister ships followed suit shortly after, altogether inaugurating a new era in shipping (though steam engines kept other vessels running for another six decades). Alas, another 1912 adoption of Diesel’s contraption failed miserably. It was the first Diesel locomotive built by the special purpose entity Diesel-Klose-Sulzer-Thermolokomotive. The motor was directly connected to the wheels without coupling and gearbox! Such a setup meant that starting the engine set in motion the whole train and vice versa – each stop killed the engine. This procedure required vast amounts of compressed air, which, by expanding, cooled the cylinders – consequently causing cracks… Well, some beginnings are
just difficult. That said, the Diesel engine was back on track only 12 years later, this time successfully owning to the electric transmission concept.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
A century ago in Tallinn Omniva, an international post & logistics company based in Estonia’s capital (formerly known as Eesti Post), commemorates the centenary of the first steel ship built in the independent country. The construction of the motor-sailer Läänemaa (tonnage 567 grt, auxiliary engine 109 NHP) started in December 1919 in Tallinn’s Noblessner shipyard, meaning that keel-laying was held during the still ongoing war for independence. She set sail in August 1922 and served for Tallinn Steamship Co. until Soviet annexation. In 1928, her sails got ‘stripped.’ Afterwards, the vessel underwent two conversions (including engine replacement). She dutifully worked under the same name, taken from the Estonian county, till scrapping in 1970.
Photos: Omniva
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WHO IS WHO CHAKIB ABI-SAAB LR’s CTIO Abi-Saab, a graduate of Boston and LeTourneau universities, takes up the newly created role of Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, merging the Chief Technology Officer and IT roles within Lloyd’s Register. He was previously with Bahri as their CTO. Before that, Abi-Saab held executive positions at the ship management company OSM, the offshore energy provider Bumi Armada, and the oil and gas services provider Baker Hughes.
CHRISTINA BROMANDER Trade Director Business Region Denmark, Stena Line Bromander has been promoted from the post of Regional Onboard Sales & Service Manager within the Business Region Denmark of the Swedish ferry line. She succeeded Elisabeth Lönne, who was appointed Stena Line’s Chief Commercial Officer. Bromander’s chief task will be to develop the Danish ferry services from Frederikshavn to Gothenburg and Grenaa to Halmstad. She worked in the hospitality sector earlier, including as CEO of Quality Hotel 11 & Eriksbergshallen.
LISA EDVARDSEN HAUGAN President, Kongsberg Maritime
MATHIEU GIRARDIN Head of DFDS’ Ferry Division
The up-to-date Head of Deck Machinery & Motion Control has been chosen to lead the company. Haugan has extensive experience in the defence and civil business area within the Kongsberg Group, including as EVP Finance at Kongsberg Maritime and Finance Director at Kongsberg Protech Systems. She also played a significant role in the integration and restructuring of Commercial Marine – a business area acquired from Rolls-Royce in 2019.
Girardin also joins the Danish shipping & logistics company’s Executive Management Team as Executive Vice President. Most recently, he worked for CMA CGM as Senior Vice President, joining the line in 2013 and holding operational and corporate responsibilities. Girardin graduated from ESCP Europe (with a Master’s in Management) in 2005 and INSEAD (Executive MBA) in 2018. He succeeds Peder Gellert Pedersen, who retired after 28 years with DFDS.
MIKAEL GUTMAN Managing Director, APM Terminals Nordics
ANNA KARKLINA EU Policy Advisor, World Shipping Council
Gutman comes from the position of Head of Procurement for APM Terminals. He has been with A.P. Møller-Mærsk since 2008 across various posts: Maersk Supply Service’s Fleet Manager, Maersk Drilling’s Head of Supply Chain Management, and global and regional roles in Maersk Procurement like Head of Strategic Sourcing Americas & Africa. APM Terminals Nordics combines the operator’s facilities in Aarhus, Gothenburg, and the newest one in Kalundborg.
Karklina joined the Council’s Brussels office but is no stranger to the Belgian capital as she has worked there for the last five years. Karklina brings a profound understanding of the EU legislative machinery, having taken on different positions within One Policy Place, an EU Affairs Monitoring organisation. Born in Latvia, she grew up and took her BA in Arts and Humanities & Social Sciences in the Netherlands and her MSc in European Studies in Denmark.
ALEXANDER KORNBLUM Managing Director Intermodal Operations, CargoBeamer
TOMI KORPELAINEN Visy’s CEO
Kornblum will be responsible for sales, demand planning, pricing, customer relations, and strategic business development in his new role. After holding several positions in the European and American aviation industry, Kornblum led the launch of a nationwide long-distance bus network in the US as Flix’s Head of Pricing and Yield Management. As Senior Program Manager and Head of EU Rail, he was most recently responsible for developing Amazon’s European rail transport network. 80 | Baltic Transport Journal | 5/2022
With the company for the past 15 years, Korpelainen takes after Petri Granroth, who headed the Finnish tech company for two decades (and will now chair its Board). Korpelainen holds an MSc in Singal Processing from the Tampere University of Technology, where he also worked in 2005-2007 as a Research Assistant. He then joined Visy, working in different positions, among others, as a Senior Project Manager.