New train terminal with a high environmental profile in a unique location

“We are delighted to be able to offer a terminal with such a tremendous environmental profile, built from the ground up with optimal conditions for handling forest industry products,” says Mathias Olsson, CEO of XR Solutions, the company operating the terminal.

The new train terminal is located in the Skaraborg Logistic Center, which has been described as the best logistics hub in the Gothenburg region, with good connections to both the Western and Southern Main Line and a direct link to the Port of Gothenburg.

Built to meet XR Solutions’ needs and environmental requirements, the transhipment terminal is owned by Jula Logistics. Classed as a green building, the terminal meets high environmental standards and contributes to reducing negative environmental impact.

New strategic location 

SCA Logistics will continue to run three trains a week carrying Kraftliner from the SCA paper mills in Munksund and Obbola, as was the case with the Skövde route.

A train at Umeå terminal loaded with Kraftliner from the SCA mills in Munksund and Obbola. 

On the return northbound journey, trains are loaded with recycled fibre for destined for the mills.

“The transhipment terminal allows us to supply all of southern Scandinavia with Kraftliner with shorter lead times and quicker deliveries,” says Lotta Åkre, Commercial manager at SCA Logistics.

The location in Skövde was well-placed strategically and the original reason for the move was to make space for the development of housing and offices on the site of the Mariesjö terminal. That said, Falköping is only 30 kilometres away and the location is as good if not better, and with facilities planned from the beginning based on present-day needs.

“Our arrangement will be the same but, of course, in such a modern terminal the track infrastructure is much better, enabling us to load and unload trains even more efficiently,” says Lotta.

Already reinforcing sustainability

In addition to the terminal itself having a green environ­mental rating and rail freight being a sustainable transport choice, all handling on behalf of SCA Logistics will be carried out by electric vehicles that run on green electricity. Connecting road transport will use vehicles fuelled with liquid biogas (LBG).

“We already have a sustainable logistics chain in as much as these shipments travel the longer distances by train and we only use lorries on the final leg to the customer. The new terminal means that we now have a sustainable design from the ground up,” says Lotta.

Quality-assured collaboration

XR Solutions was responsible for operating the combi terminal in Skövde, including SCA Logistics’ cargoes. 

The collaboration between the parties will now continue, in the same form but at a new location.

“They understand our needs inside and out and in turn we feel very confident that they know where we stand in terms of our high quality standards,” says Lotta.

XR Solutions CEO Mathias Olsson welcomes the continued and renewed collaboration.

“Our long experience of handling products from the paper industry might be our greatest strength. It makes us highly efficient and thus competitive enough to earn continued trust. Naturally, we see this as very positive,” he says.

The demands of handling paper and timber products are different to many other traditional cargo types. The units are often large and heavy, requiring a less traditional machine park and equipment. In Falköping, 500 metres of covered railway tracks await, allowing a full-length train to be driven in and ensuring rational cargo handling, especially of paper products.

“By national standards, this is a unique terminal entirely adapted to cargo from the forest industry: Kraftliner, pulp, sawn timber products, even recycled fibre going back to the mill,” says Olsson.

The project has been underway since 2015, when XR Solutions began searching for an alternative to Skövde. Intensive building work has been going on over recent years, resulting in double the capacity of the previous terminal. 

XR Solutions now has 85,000 square metres of storage area at its disposal compared to 12,000 in the old terminal.

The port of Gothenburg is the cherry on the cake

The establishment of the new terminal opens up many new opportunities.

“Aside from the facilities, what makes the terminal enor­mously attractive is the regular service with nine trains each week between Falköping and the Port of Gothenburg. This is the cherry on the cake, with Scandinavia’s largest port offering great opportunities for future exports and imports,” says OIsson.

The final SCA Logistics train will call at Skövde on 31 May.

“We’re up and running in Falköping, which is very exciting of course! We’ve been working towards this for many years and it turned out even better than we expected,” says Olsson.

Text: Jennie Zetterqvist
Photo: Torleif Halvorsen