Holms with Stocks in the Legend, Port with Fame in the Modern Europe

Port of Stockholm lies on the northwest shore of the Baltic Sea and at the mouth of Lake Malaren (the largest lake in Sweden) as one of the major ports of the Baltic Sea area. It is the Sweden’s capital as the national center of the politics, economy, culture and transportation, which is well known to the world. This time Shippingchina.com has the honor to do the interview with the managing director Mrs. Christel Wiman to pay a close sight at this renowned Nordic port.

R: The name of the port of Stockholm origins from the legend, that the brave Swedish build system by stocks on the holms to defense the attack from the pirates. Now “stocks” develop into the world famous port. Could you please present us the developing status of port of Stockholm nowadays?

Mrs. Wiman: Stockholm is the capital of Sweden and the port of Stockholm is besides the high going markets in EU and Russia. The port of Stockholm is the central port for freight and passengers to and from Finland, Russia and the Baltic States. It has functions acting as a link within a transport system, selling services to shipping and renting out land and premises.

We are developing just now as one of the few ports in the Baltic Sea, which has mechanism that can have the largest vessels come into the Baltic Sea. And we are also negotiating with the leader of the container terminal operator on the higher level for the port’s container terminal development. And we are also the biggest passenger port in the Baltic region that has 11 million passengers.

 

R: China is having Olympic Games and there are also other programs carried in China. Is there any program between port of Stockholm and China?

Mrs. Wiman: The changes in China have also been obviously noticed in Sweden and there’re also various cooperation between carried in the port or besides the port of Stockholm so we can expect that there must be more cooperation between China and Stockholm and we will depend on the Chinese market in the future or we will be more inter-dependent with good network to have business together.

For example, the Investment Sweden Agency is having a program with China, It is about the construction and they would like to start to build a warehouse with the Chinese company  as the material supplier to the port of Stockholm.

 

R: In 2007, port of Stockholm is awarded the honor of the world-class environmental work carrier, the only Nordic port to be given the highest environmental classification. Could you please specify this event and show us the environmental work of the port of Stockholm?

Mrs. Wiman: We are proud of receive this award as it testifies our hard, goal-conscious work. The University of Montreal researched the environmental work at 800 of the world’s largest ports on behalf of Canada’s Ministry of Transportation. Alongside ports such as Amsterdam, Vancouver and Livorno, Port of Stockholm was the only port in the Nordic region to gain this award.

To carry out the environmental work, we have taken many methods. For example the Environmental Award, which symbolizes the group’s aim of contributing to sustainable development in the field of shipping, awarded to a person, organization, company or public authority. We even have rebate, low prices to ship owners and freight forwarders if they perform well in environmental work. Ships will have double bottom and double hull when they are oil tankers. By these methods now we have clean water and low suffer from pollution.

 

R: How is the security condition in the port of Stockholm in the port of Stockholm?

Mrs. Wiman: We have adopted ISPS Code and also the Port Security Code because of the EU legislation. We have spent more than $2 million on the equipments to enhance the port’s security. And since the port is in the center of the city, we need to balance the conflict between the cars, buildings and people around the port. We want the city to be open and want it has connection with the sea. We arrange fences at some places, or guards if necessary. And if you are a company with special demand on the security items, you can order what kind of securities you want, That is the special feature and very beneficial for a company’s unique development.

 

R: What is the future developing plan for port of Stockholm?

Mrs. Wiman: Port of Stockholm is a city-owned port. We have already had this new construction plan for the port in 1998 and our city decides for the financing and starting the project in 2006. The port will be totally developed and ready in 2013 and we will carry out the marketing in 2012.

We are expanding Stockholm to be the modern port for rolling goods and container traffic in Sweden’s primary consumer and commercial region. It will be a port for the environment and the region.

 

R: Could you present us the port’s culture and how the culture affects the development of the port?

Mrs. Wiman: We have the Swedish model when it comes to the port’s policy. For example, we have an equal platform for performing the Swedish leadership. The leader and the staff have the equal position and the leader will ask for the staff’s opinion for appropriate action. The Swedish leadership allows quite a lot of discussion and then decides. The port people are very proud of the port’s history and today and enjoying the delight under such an equal and harmonious atmosphere of the port of Stockholm.   

 

Journalist: Betty Chen