The Swedish port is investing in what will most probably be the world's first automated high bay storage for paper rolls, to be erected just next to the existing container terminal.
The 25 m-high and 10k m2-big facility will be fed with trains, which, in turn, will be handled by an automated overhead crane that will stack the rolls inside the warehouse. There will be also a network of horizontal conveyors that will automatically transport the rolls into containers. The warehouse's annual handling capacity will amount to 0.5mt.
Once the facility comes online, it will be rented for a period of 30 years to Yilport, a Turkish stevedore whose Nordic branch has been since mid-2016 running all the cargo operations in the Gävle port.
"It's yet another investment that strengthens the port's competitiveness and will be of great importance to the region's paper industry. The port's volumes have increased significantly and at the time when the container terminal is going to increase its capacity twofold we're taking an important step towards continued strong development," Fredrik Svanbom, Managing Director, the Port of Gävle, said.
Håkan Bergström, Marketing Manager, Yilport Nordics, added, "The very positive cooperation with the Port of Gävle is what has enabled this important and completely unique investment. Together we're meeting the demand of the extremely strong Swedish paper industry with the most effective solution there is."
Photo: UPM-Kymmene