Scotline has started a new timber service from the Swedish east coast into Rochester.
The liner operator says that the first ship on the route loaded in the Port of Gavle on February 11. This marks the start of a three-weekly delivery into the Rochester terminal, which now forms part of the Scotline operation following its recent acquisition of Transit Medway.
Managing director Peter Millatt said that the new service was introduced after Ahlmark Lines decided to pull out of Rochester.
“This left a number of shippers with no convenient service into south-east England,” he said. “Several shippers and receivers approached us about starting a replacement and we’ve decided to start up a regular service from Gavle.”
The latter was selected by Scotline as an embarkation point because of its convenience for the Dalarna sawmilling area in Sweden and the fact that it had not been serviced by “established operators”.
Mr Millatt described the former Transit terminal at Rochester, with its 25,000m² of undercover timber storage, as ideal for the new service.
He said the response to the initial sailing had been positive and that Scotline already had bookings for the next departure in week nine.
“If demand continues to be strong, we will look at increasing the frequency to every two weeks,” he said. “We’ve also had enquiries from shippers about starting services from other east coast Sweden ports into Rochester and for running from Gavle to other UK ports. We are evaluating all these opportunities.”
Ahlmark switched its southern England terminal operation to Port of Shoreham earlier this year. Its first shipments, from Kristinehamn, Skelleftehamn and Iggesund in Sweden, are expected to arrive in February and managing director Tim Hollands told TTJ the company is expecting to bring at least 100,000m³ of sawn timber into the port this year.
