Summary
• Varberg is Sweden’s biggest timber port.
• The aim of Timberbridge is to give customers an integrated timber service.
• Its partners are Varberg, Magnusson Shipping and timber treater Woodtec.
• The biggest shipper from Varberg is Romford-based Scotline.
On its website the Timberbridge operation at the Swedish port of Varberg quotes Professor Mats Abrahamsson of Linköping University’s logistics department.
“Many of the problems in logistics today,” he says, “lie in the interfaces between different components in the supply chain.”
That, said Martin Berg, Varberg’s marketing manager and former student of the professor, explains the rationale for the development of Timberbridge in the first place. The idea was to create a seamless structure, connecting the various aspects of timber storage, handling, processing and despatch to make the operation more streamlined and customers’ lives easier.
Established in 1849, Varberg lies on the Swedish west coast, south of Gothenburg. It is Sweden’s biggest timber handling port, in recent years despatching around 900,000m³ a year, or 6% of the country’s total exports. Global recession has dented volumes, but last year it still handled 700,000m³, with principal destinations, via regular scheduled services, including the UK and Ireland, the Mediterranean, North Africa and the US.
Modern facilities
Varberg has long prided itself on its efficiency, with modern loading and unloading facilities combining with long working hours to ensure rapid ship turnaround times. However, like other ports, its various timber operations were previously largely independent of one another. Port users had to contact different people to arrange sorting, storage, timber treatment and last minute schedule changes.
The spur to tackle this fragmentation, and ultimately create Timberbridge, said Mr Berg, the project’s main architect, was the global slump, notably its impact in the UK wood sector.
“The UK, Sweden’s most important sawn timber customer, changed its way of buying in 2010,” he said. “Importers bought smaller volumes and required higher delivery service. As we’d decided to maintain our frequency of sailings, while other ports cut back in the downturn, we became an option for more customers, with our weekly service into several ports in the UK, Scotland and Ireland. From a small user, for example, Stockholm-based Setra is now our second biggest client.”
To further enhance its competitiveness and service to hard-pressed customers, Varberg also launched an efficiency drive through closer working with two firms at the port, Magnusson Shipping and timber treater Woodtec.
Magnusson has a wide sawmill customer base and specialises in combining shipments into full vessel loads for cost-effectiveness. It also inspects and logs timber on arrival and sorts it according to export route, so mills can send in truckloads for multiple destinations.
Meanwhile, Woodtec operates “state-of-the-art” treatment impregnation plants at Varberg, working round the clock to standards in Sweden, the UK, Ireland, the US and Asia.
Integrated service
The three businesses collaborated to some extent before, but through 2010 co-ordinated ever more closely. The impact soon became apparent.
“Like the whole of Sweden, we exported less in 2010, but took UK market share with our new approach,’ said Mr Berg. “Clients said our added value, flexibility and service were quite unique.”
Following this successful start, the three partners decided to formalise their relationship under the Timberbridge banner in January. It’s not yet a company in its own right, but that is now on the agenda.
The benefit of the initiative for port users, said Mr Berg, is essentially a simplified service. They now have to contact only one person in the Timberbridge team to arrange everything, from cargo arrival to despatch. Overall, Varberg is more integrated.
“We’re now a one-stop shop; one rate per m³, from sawmill collection, to delivery to end buyers, including added-value services if required,” said Mr Berg.
UK shipments
The biggest shipper out of Varberg is the UK’s Scotline, which shipped over 500,000m³ from the port to the UK and Ireland last year.
“We’ve long benefited from Varberg’s service, but Timberbridge has resulted in even better communication between parties,” said sales and marketing director Cindy Crancher.
“It co-ordinates volumes, transport, sorting, treatment, enables port users to have a central contract and can offer a price from ex-mill to FBY final destination, inclusive of all charges.”
The influence of Timberbridge is now spreading elsewhere in the Swedish industry.
“To keep its position in the global forest products market, Sweden needs supply chain co-operation and in Timberbridge it has a reference for a solution. In fact we’ve already had visits from two other ports,” said Mr Berg. “Sweden has 15 commercial ports loading sawn timber. Using the Timberbridge model we could cut that to four or five. The plan is also to involve foreign ports. Rochester is already in the collaboration and we’re talking to others in the UK, Ireland, the US and Far East.”
New cranes
Varberg has recently bought four Multidocker cranes to speed up loading and is now investing in a port extension and planning to introduce an order management system that will digitally track timber packs from arrival to end delivery.
It is also increasing its timber catchment area across Sweden thanks to “well-developed and priced road and rail transport” links.
These developments, combined with Timberbridge’s efficiencies, said Mr Berg, will help boost its share of Swedish timber exports.
“I think our potential is 2-2.5 million m³ a year, and with the new Södra mill in nearby Värö aiming for 1 million m³ capacity and US demand recovering, we may go higher,” he said.
This confidence seems to be borne out by Scotline’s verdict on Timberbridge Varberg.
“It’s now so efficient and we’re increasingly able to use it to capture timber from mid and east coast Sweden,” said Ms Crancher. “We expect our volumes from the port to rise in line with its own throughput.”
