Family-owned sawmill Stenvalls Trä is investing in rail over road and sea freight, judging that rail freight is better for the environment, more reliable, and cheaper.
“It felt as though we'd squared the circle,” says Roger Bergman, Marketing Director.
Stenvalls employees approximately 250 people at its four production facilities in northern Sweden. In the past, sawn timber from the facilities was first loaded onto trucks and then reloaded into containers at Piteå Port to the south, before being transported by sea to the rest of the world.
“But due to the pandemic, container traffic to and from Piteå was suspended. Initially, we sent goods by road to Gothenburg, a distance of 1,200 kilometres (745 miles), but it wasn’t sustainable – neither financially nor environmentally – so we were forced to rethink,” says Bergman.
The solution was to refurbish the old railway tracks at one of Stenvall’s sawmills on Lövholmen in central Piteå and build their own container terminal. From there, the firm now uses its own containers to transport product by rail all the way to Gothenburg – without the need for additional transshipments. What’s more, the transports are completely fossil-free.
“Rail can compete with road in terms of price. Due to our investment of around SEK 12 million, we’ve gained a permanent function that we can rely on, cheaper transport and environmental savings of 83-87 per cent compared to sea freight from Piteå. “It felt as though we'd squared the circle,” says Bergman, smiling.
