European feeder carrier and logistics operator Unifeeder AS, which was sold to Dubai World last year, announced the launch of a new regular service on August 10, which will directly link the Swedish east coast with Poland.
According to Tass, ships on the route will be sent twice a week. The new service will connect the ports of Sweden with the large deep-water port of Europe Gdansk and with the important intra-European logistics hub Gdynia.
In Sweden, the route includes ship calls to the ports of Gävle and Norrköping. Among its advantages, Unifeeder notes "minimizing the risks associated with strikes and other disruptions." The largest container port of Sweden and the whole of Scandinavia is Gothenburg. The only container terminal of the port handles the bulk of the country's container trade. However, in 2016, the terminal became the scene of a large-scale conflict between the APM Terminals operator and the trade union. For two years, dockers held protests that included strikes, blockades, and bans on processing. In 2017, the port container turnover fell by 20% to 644 thousand TEU, and the operator was forced to cut personnel by more than a third. Last year the situation in the port stabilized, but the risks remain.