Increased RoRo capacity for northbound cargo

SCA Logistics has three RoRo vessels operating on scheduled weekly routes between Sweden, the United Kingdom and northern Europe. Service to northern Sweden has now been further improved with an additional call at the SCA terminal in Umeå.

“Previously we called there once on the loop from Kiel and once from Rotterdam; however, since the beginning of the year we have increased this to two calls from Kiel. This creates new opportunities for us to offer more capacity for northbound cargo from Kiel to Umeå. Capacity has also increased between Kiel and Sundsvall and from Malmö northbound,” says Karolina.

The new call also offers increased opportunities to ship cargo from Europe to Finland via the Wasaline ferry between Umeå and Vaasa.

Fast and punctual

SCA’s RoRo services are popular for a number of reasons, not least their speed and reliability and because they are suitable for many types of cargo.

“Our RoRo vessels are incredibly punctual. We can be pretty certain at which hour they will call at each port. They also have short lead times. If we load cargo in Kiel on a Friday, it will be unloaded in Umeå on the following Monday,” says Sales representative Sandra Lindroos.

One reason for the short lead times is that most cargoes are loaded in cassettes*, meaning that SCA can lash the cargo ashore, speeding up both loading and unloading. The cassette system also minimises cargo handling. In many cases, cargoes are delivered directly from the cassette to the customer without any intermediate storage. 

“The cassette system helps to keep damage-in-transit levels extremely low on RoRo vessels,” says Sandra.

A project cargo on cassette leaving one of SCAs RoRo vessels. 

Many types of cargo

RoRo vessels are capable of transporting many different types of cargo. Aluminium and industrial components are common, as are vehicles such as caravans, loaders, excavators and cranes. 

The vessels are also ideal for transporting large and heavy project cargoes such as wind turbine components, concrete blocks and various structural components.

“The capacity of the vessel is seldom a limitation; generally speaking, we can handle any unit that can be hauled by road and handled in port. As long as the unit isn’t higher than 4.7 metres, we can manage it,” says Karolina.

Our RoRo vessels also ship a large number of containers.

“It’s a possibility that’s easy to overlook, but placing containers on top of cassettes is a convenient solution,” says Karolina.

A climate-smart alternative

One increasingly important aspect for many customers is sustainability, another area in which the roll-on/roll-off system has many advantages.

“These vessels are generally a climate-smart alternative. Our RoRo schedule is also adapted so that the vessel can maintain a constant speed, further reducing emissions. This makes the sustainability benefits even greater,” says Sandra.

In addition to shipping to the various ports of call, SCA Logistics also offers complete solutions. Many customers choose door-to-door delivery, a service that SCA offers by combining maritime shipping with transport by road or rail.

Change prompted by multi-billion investment

The reason for the additional call at Umeå is that SCA has made a multi-billion SEK investment in its Obbola Paper Mill. In order to meet increased demand for renewable packaging, SCA has built the world’s largest paper machine for the production of Kraftliner. This has increased production considerably and greater capacity is needed to ship products south.

“This means that southbound vessels are often relatively full of SCA cargo. It is primarily northbound that has increased capacity for external cargo. You are welcome to check with us if you do have southbound cargo, as we sometimes have space,” concludes Sandra.

*A cassette is an upright steel platform with a cargo capacity of 60 to 80 tonnes. It is 12.25 metres long and 2.6 metres wide. If this is insufficient, it is possible to rent a MAFI trailer that can carry 100 tonnes and upward.

Text: Kerstin Olofsson
Photo: Torbjörn Bergkvist, Håkan Sjödin