Lövholmen Intermodal Terminal in Piteå aims to strengthen the entire region's competitiveness

The new Lövholmen Intermodal Terminal in Piteå recently celebrated one year of operation. With its strategic location next to the E4 highway and major industries in the area, combined with growing capacity and departure frequency to and from The port of Gothenburg, the terminal aims to become a northern transport hub open to the entire region’s business community.

The terminal, owned by forest product company Stenvalls Trä, initially started in order to handle transportation needs for its own operations. The majority of the volumes handled still consist of sawn and planed timber from Stenvalls' four sawmills in the region.

The goods are transported by truck from the sawmills and are quickly and efficiently stuffed into containers at the Lövholmen terminal. From there, the goods are transported by train to the Port of Gothenburg, where they are then loaded onto connecting ships bound for markets in Asia, the USA, and Southern Europe.

Over time however, more cargo owners from various industries in the Piteå region have gotten wise to the opportunities the terminal offers. These have been welcomed by the terminal, which has gradually started handling a broader mix of goods, beyond just forest products. This is a development that Roger Bergman, Marketing Manager at Stenvalls Trä, would like to enhance:

“We want to be an open terminal for the entire region’s industry, which we are very committed to. We are in no way exclusive to Stenvalls Trä; we have both the capacity, expertise, and willingness to handle larger and more diversified volumes. And we have already seen the beginning of that.”

When operations started, there was one departure per week in each direction to and from Gothenburg Port. The frequency quickly increased to two cycles, and in the long run, the terminal wants to increase the frequency even further. The rail transport to the Port of Gothenburg takes 23 hours, and 93% of the trains have arrived with a maximum two-hour delay since the start.

The terminal is equipped with modern machinery, including a loadplate for stuffing containers and reachstackers for handling all types of cargo, including hazardous goods, tanks, trailers, and containers. They have a close cooperation with APM Terminals, which operates the port's container terminal, TFK Logistics, and Hector Rail for train services, and Träfraktkontoret, which books the connecting sea transport.

“It’s a collaboration that has worked incredibly well from the start,” says Kim Johansson, CEO of TFK Logistics. “Stenvalls is very proactive, agile, and solution-oriented, and APM Terminals are experts in flexible and efficient handling between trains and ships. Together, we have a total concept that is hard to beat.”

Lövholmen Intermodal Terminal is part of Railport Scandinavia, an extensive railway network consisting of nearly 30 inland terminals that, with frequent departures, transport goods from all over Sweden to and from the Port of Gothenburg, which has the most comprehensive shipping line network in the Nordic countries, guaranteeing access to the world for Swedish industry.

Fact file: Lövholmen Intermodal Terminal
Area: 30,000 m², with an additional 20,000 m² under construction.
Tracks: Two tracks with a total of 1,800 track meters.
Departures to and from the Port of Gothenburg: Two per week in each direction.
Transit time to the Port of Gothenburg: 23 hours.