“This is an important milestone in our efforts to build a freight port to meet the transport demands of the future in an environmentally friendly way. This ruling means that we can now look forward to the Environmental Court establishing the detailed terms and conditions so that we can then begin construction,” says Henrik Widerståhl, Ports of Stockholm’s acting CEO.
The reasons for the new Norvikudden facility revolve around the recognition that by 2030 the Stockholm region is expected to have expanded by the equivalent of the population of Gothenburg. Continued strong growth is also projected for the entire Baltic Sea region, which currently has 100m residents. This imposes demands for an efficient and environmentally friendly supply of goods to the region that also strengthens the region’s competitiveness internationally. Increased shipping transport is central to coping with the region’s development.
In addition Ports of Stockholm accepts that ports of the future will also face new demands. Globalisation, economic development and more container freight indicates that freight volumes will continue to grow. This in turn means a trend towards larger vessels that require straightforward and sufficiently deep port approach lanes. Norvikudden, with naturally deep, short approach fairways and its proximity to the market, is the optimal location for a new freight port in the Stockholm region.
The facility will be owned by Ports of Stockholm, which in turn is a subsidiary company of the City of Stockholm. Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) which currently operates the Ports of Stockholm’s existing container operations will also run the container terminal on behalf of Ports of Stockholm.
