The largest container port on the Swedish East Coast is doubling its capacity to 600,000 teu in order to achieve continued growth.

Port of Gävle and Yilport Gävle have entered into a joint venture worth SEK 700 million, a second dock is being built with cranes and depth to accommodate more and larger container vessels. The expanded container port will be able to handle four ships simultaneously.

“Within a 250-kilometre radius of Gävle 17 million tonnes of steel, paper, and timber are produced every year. A lot of it is already being exported by sea, containerised through us and that volume will definitely grow,” said Eryn Dinyovszky, general manager of Yilport Nordic.

More business

Following the expansion, the port expects to attract more export business and also increased imports and the move should also benefit local business.

It will also have a knock-on effect nationally. For example, Sweden’s National Food Agency is currently building a laboratory for examination of imported foodstuff in connection with the expanded port.

“The Port of Gävle is just two hours from Stockholm. First class road and rail connections make it beneficial for cargo owners, not only just in our region, but also in other parts of Sweden, to increase their imports through the Port of Gävle,” said Fredrik Svanbom, CEO, of Port of Gävle.

Going hand-in-hand with the expansion is the logistics park which is taking shape outside of the port gates. Another 20,000 square metres of land is available for companies wanting to benefit from a close proximity to the port.

The expansion is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019.