Holmen’s business areas have responsibility for transporting their products from the mills to the customers. Holmen Skog organises transport to the mills of wood from forests in Sweden and of imported wood from its countries of origin. In the UK, wood transport is organised by the mill in Workington.
Ships operated under long-term charters
have accounted for more than half of all transport in Holmen for several years. Capacity utilisation on the ships is high. They are also used to carry recovered paper to Sweden. Rail is mainly used for distributing products from Sweden to southern Europe and to a certain extent also for incoming raw materials. Trucks are the main mode of transport for saw logs and pulpwood. Trucks are also generally the only option for transporting products from the port terminals in Europe to customers. The same also applies to distribution over short distances from mills to customers.
Transport emissions
Holmen aims to improve transport efficiency and reduce the impact of transport on the environment. A strategy has been established to ensure a gradual transition to rail-based logistics solutions from the Group’s three Swedish mills. In the long term this will mean that, as well as reduced costs, emissions to air will decrease. In addition, emissions to air will decrease because the need for truck transport from port to customer in Europe is eliminated. Holmen is a partner in Scandfibre Logistic AB, a company that supplies and develops transport and logistics services for the Swedish forest industry.
Shipping
The ships employed by Holmen run on oil that meets the requirement of a sulphur content of less than 1.0 per cent applicable to Baltic and North Sea shipping.
The International Maritime Organization, IMO (UN agency), has decided that as of 2015, marine fuel may only contain 0.1 per cent sulphur. This rule applies to the Baltic Sea, North Sea and English Channel. Both Holmen and the industry in general have opposed this regional rule, as it will result in unreasonable costs for Swedish companies and unequal competition within the EU and in relation to players outside the EU. The global rule applicable from 2025 of a maximum of 0.5 per cent sulphur in marine fuel is, however, welcomed.
Holmen Skog has long been taking
active measures to minimise transport activity by flow optimisation and the exchange of wood with other forest companies. In 2012 significant volumes were relocated between northern and southern Sweden. Modern optimisation tools are used in planning, resulting in shorter transport distances and investigation of environmentally efficient and cost-effective transport combinations. The ETT (“one more stack”) project, which is aimed at increasing the volume of wood carried on logging trucks, is an example of new technology. Several years of test operation on a vehicle have yielded very favourable results, with a 20 per cent reduction in both carbon dioxide emissions and transport costs. In 2012 the ETT project entered a new phase under the name DETT (Demonstration: one more stack), in which Holmen Skog will be participating with a few demonstration vehicles.
Over the past five-year period, Holmen has reduced the average transport distance for pulpwood by around 10 per cent.
The Group's travel policy
includes environmental aspects of travel with the aim of reducing the extent of travel and consequently its environmental impact.
Efforts to reduce the transport impact
Holmen is taking part in industrywide efforts to reduce the impact of transport on climate. The target is to reduce fossil carbon dioxide emissions from transport by 20 per cent by 2020. The policy of the Swedish industry federation on transport and sustainability has been applicable since September 2010. In addition to this, there are joint sustainability criteria developed for the industry that can be used in procuring truck transport services. These criteria will also be gradually introduced into Holmen’s operations. Equivalent criteria for shipping and rail transport will be drawn up.
Photo: Erik Viklund, Skogforsk