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A shipping company had unloaded bentonite in Luleå and wanted to take a small amount of sawn timber that was already in the port of Piteå on the return trip. The amount of cargo did not make it economically viable to move the ship to Piteå. Of course, we solved the logistics! |
An exciting challenge
Luleå Port is basically a bulk port and loading sawn timber is not an everyday occurrence. The equipment and personnel there are used to handling coal, bentonite, lime etc. with a bucket.
- Thanks to an incredibly committed staff, we made it work! The staff were very positive about loading a new type of goods, says Ola Isaksson, Business Area Manager for Terminal and Tf Site Manager in Luleå. He heaps praise on the staff who did a good job when the odds were not the best.
We had short notice, didn't have the right equipment in place, no experience in Luleå of handling sawn timber and also really bad weather in the form of lots of snow.
- We solved the logistics by moving equipment from our operations in Skellefteå and Piteå to handle the actual loading.
After the loading was completed, an evaluation and analysis of the loading was carried out to be prepared if this were to happen again.
Once again – now even better
The same situation arose a month or so later. This time the same work was carried out, but now we were able to work even more efficiently because we had found improvements in the loading process. For example, the timber was stored more efficiently on the quay following suggestions from the machine operators and we used the port's crane to be able to load even faster.
- We have no plans to load sawn timber on a regular basis in Luleå in the future, as it stands right now. But we will of course try to resolve customer requests in the best possible way, concludes Ola.
If a customer finds themselves in a difficult logistics situation, we at ShoreLink always try to find the best possible solution. We benefit from our knowledge of different types of cargo, our presence in multiple locations and our incredibly dedicated staff.