APM Terminals Gothenburg keeps growing and is ready for 2023

As in the past two years, 2022 featured a lot of unrest and fluctuations in the supply chain. Despite this, APM Terminals Gothenburg remains strong and is continuing to grow in a declining container market.

"Gothenburg is an extremely important hub for the Nordic region in trade with the outside world. APM Terminals will continue to invest in Gothenburg in order to deliver the best conditions for the Swedish market and to drive the green transition forward," says Mikael Gutman, Managing Director at APM Terminals Nordic.

New figures from the Ports of Sweden show that APM Terminals Gothenburg is the fastest growing port in an otherwise very tough market. “We still have the trust of our customers, while also welcoming many new customers during the year, which we're very pleased about,” says Brian Bitsch, Commercial Manager at APM Terminals Gothenburg.

New shipping lines and flexible service

Weekly traffic between Gothenburg and Asia is crucial for the Swedish import and export industry. In the spring of 2022, we were pleased to be able to further strengthen our direct traffic offering through MSC’s new shipping line to the US.

“Weekly traffic creates a great deal of security for our customers and for the competitiveness of Sweden as a whole,” says Martin Karlsson, operational manager at APM Terminals Gothenburg. "Security and flexibility were also very important to our customers in 2022. In order to match the major fluctuations in the supply chain, in addition to our regular shipping lines, we invested heavily to be able to offer an average of one extra call a week throughout the year."

"At the same time, we're ensuring that we keep contributing towards greener shipping, which is why we're proud to be able to offer ships bunkering of fossil-free methanol at APM Terminals Gothenburg."

More rail shuttles create opportunities for a greener supply chain

The proportion of containers shipped climate-efficient to and from APM Terminals by rail increased by 13% this year compared with 2021, and during the year APM Terminals Gothenburg reached record highs for rail use.

"The demand for smart rail solutions is enormous. Now more than 55% of all goods are coming to us by rail and I can't envision a slowdown. During the year, we had to level up to a round-the-clock service to meet demand and create the capacity to handle any variations," says Svante Altås, Sr. Sales Executive at APM Terminals Gothenburg.

Strong increase in customer satisfaction during the year

During the year, APM Terminals Gothenburg expanded its Customer Care team and implemented new processes to make even better use of customer feedback.

“We send out regular customer surveys during the year and it's great to see that the efforts made here at APM Terminals are producing direct results in the form of a significant increase in satisfied customers,” says Emma Tendell Rutgersson, Customer Care Partner at APM Terminals Gothenburg.

"We're very attentive to the feedback we receive, in order to offer solutions that are in line with our customers’ needs. Among other things, we've extended opening hours of the gates and developed new services and digital solutions to make everyday life easier for our customers."

APM Terminals Gothenburg is ready for 2023

Despite the uncertainties of the coming year, with inflation and aftershocks from the Covid-19 pandemic, APM Terminals Gothenburg is predicting continued volume growth. Preparations have been underway for a long time, in the form of a vastly increased workforce and training of personnel, new technology, upgraded and fossil-free cranes and machinery, as well as increased yard capacity.

To exploit the port’s full potential and preserve Sweden’s competitiveness, work is now underway to deepen the fairway in order to receive the world’s largest container vessels, loaded with greater amounts of cargo.

“With steadily growing volumes, new requirements are being put in place to satisfy the huge demand in a sustainable, efficient and flexible way, both now and in the future – and at APM Terminals Gothenburg, we're ready,” Brian Bitsch concludes.