Port of Gothenburg’s container volumes sink 19% in 2017

The Scandinavian port said one reason for the downturn was a long-running labor dispute between the Swedish Dockworkers’ Union and terminal operator APM Terminals.    Container volumes at Scandinavia’s Port of Gothenburg fell just under 20 percent in 2017, making last year Gothenburg’s worst year ever for container volumes, the port has revealed.
   The Swedish port handled 644,000 TEUs in 2017, down 19 percent from the 798,000 TEUs in 2016.
   “This is a downturn that we have never been close to at any point in the history of the port, and it took place in a year when container trade globally had increased,” Port of Gothenburg Chief Executive Magnus Kårestedt said. “It is difficult to put into words the seriousness of the situation.”
   Despite low container volumes, overall volumes at the Port of Gothenburg remained on par with 2016.
   On the flip side, 295,000 new cars passed through the port, a rise of 20 percent compared with 246,000 vehicles the previous year.
   Also, trailered freight rose for the third straight year. A total of 593,000 roll-on/roll-off units were transported, up 10 percent over 2016’s 538,000 units.
   About 24 million tons of oil and energy products were handled at the port in 2017, statistics show, a fall of 1 percent compared with 2016, which was a record-breaking year for the port.
   “If it were not for a planned maintenance stoppage at one of the port’s refineries,” the port explained in a statement, “the all-time high noted in 2016 would have been surpassed.”
   But all other numbers were overshadowed by the double-digit percentage fall in the amount of TEUs moved. One reason cited by the port for the downturn was a long-running labor dispute between the Swedish Dockworkers’ Union and the terminal operator APM Terminals Gothenburg. It had impacted 2016 volumes in part, but the repercussions were greatest in 2017.
   “We had hoped for a recovery towards the end of the year in the absence of any industrial action since last summer, but this was not the case,” Kårestedt explained.
   “The message from the freight owners is loud and clear,” he said. “The constant threat of industrial action hanging over the container terminal means they will not be returning without a long-term solution that will ensure reliable freight handling over time.”