One of the oldest Swedish shipping lines, Ahlmark Lines AB is celebrating 175 years of trading, but it is clearly not resting on past achievements. The company has recently undertaken a range of developments to grow, increasing its fleet and introducing new technology to reduce its vessels’ fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
Latest moves include the commissioning of construction of two new vessels with timber carrying capacity of 6,000m3.
“We continue to invest and to improve our environmental performance,” said Peter Anderson, Ahlmark Lines CEO. “We are always looking to become more fuel efficient and to reduce our fleet’s carbon footprint.”
In 2021, he added, the company additionally chartered a vessel fitted with a Flettner Rotor sail, which reduces fuel consumption, and this technology is being considered for future builds. Ahlmark Lines has also chartered another vessel equipped with two 25t cranes to give more flexible cargo options in some ports. And in a further move to cut emissions, it has just replaced some of its forklift fleet at Hull with the latest, fuel-efficient trucks from Caterpillar and Kone.
Ahlmark, which employs more than 1,500 people across Europe and Africa, ships over a fifth of all Swedish timber exported to the UK. It operates regular timber shipments from Kristinehamn, Skelleftehamn, Iggesund, Domsjo, Gruvon, Ala, Norrkoping, Kalmar and Karlshamn to Hull, New Holland, King’s Lynn, Shoreham and Montrose
The company has been shipping into the UK for 150 years. In 2004 it set up its own timber terminal operation at King George Dock in Hull and it has recently renewed its 10-year agreement with ABP for the 11-acre facility. Ahlmark Shipping (UK) Ltd handles around 250,000m3 of timber a year through Hull and has over 30,000m2 of covered storage.
“By signing a new 10-year agreement with ABP Hull, Ahlmark has shown its total commitment to continue shipping timber volumes into the Humber,” said Tim Hollands, managing director of Ahlmark Shipping (UK) Ltd. “And along with the 10-year agreement for the Ahlmark Terminal, we have leased an additional 10,000m2 storage area to accommodate new secured volumes. In the past the majority of volume we handled was for local destinations, however, with the increased landed stock volumes, our customer base has expanded nationwide.”
Ahlmark Shipping has enjoyed a buoyant 18 months. “We saw our volumes increase into our terminal by 5% in 2021 and by 12% in the first half of 2022,” said Mr Hollands.
“Where joinery redwood has been the main type, we’ve also now secured volumes of TR26 material from Kristinehamn. It’s a product we never previously handled in Hull.”
It’s not all been plain sailing. Ahlmark has had to contend with the steep rise in fuel prices due to the war in Ukraine, with its hike in costs exacerbated by UK legislation banning use of rebated red diesel in plant and equipment within the port industry.
“These factors combined have resulted in our fuel costs rising by 140%, and we’ve had no alternative but to pass this increase on to customers,” said Mr Hollands. “Increasing bunker prices for ships have also been a major factor in the mounting cost of daily hire of vessels, which also has to be passed on.”
Ahlmark Shipping has also been developing its UK administrative operations.
“We’ve invested in more personnel and new equipment to take on the new customs clearance processes and inventory linking system implemented since Brexit,” said Mr Hollands. “We also now have four experienced staff training for the new Customs Declaration Service (CDS) that replaces the CHIEF Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight system at the end of September.”
