European leader

Interforest Terminal Rotterdam (ITR) has risen rapidly to become Europe’s
leading terminal for the handling of fluff pulp.

“Fluff pulp is a very sensitive product to transport and store. The material contains no additives. The reels go directly for conversion to products like nappies, incontinence products, hygiene products and woven airlaid. This places an extra burden of our management of the logistics. Unlike linerboard, printing papers and a host of other products fluff pulp is something that has to be consumed quickly. It’s more susceptible to market fluctuation,” says Bob de Lange, terminal manager at Interforest Terminal Rotterdam.

Growing with SCA Hygiene
At present Interforest Terminal Rotterdam yearly handles 180,000 tonnes of fluff pulp stuffed in containers. The terminal has grown at the same pace as SCA Hygiene and in line with supplier International Paper’s (IP) successful expansion. In just the past
few years SCA Hygiene has expanded considerably in Europe. This has involved substantial investment in new, modern mills in the growth markets of central Europe, primarily Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

“As SCA Hygiene’s production climbs so does the need for transports,” says Bob
de Lange.

IP picks Interforest Terminal Rotterdam
Parallel with SCA Hygiene’s success the developments in the market have also favoured International Paper, who with the right product development and market position, have been able to strengthen their sales in Europe during the same period. An increasing proportion of IP’s shipments pass through Interforest Terminal Rotterdam. From 2004 to 2005 International Paper’s deliveries to Rotterdam jumped from 8,000 to 55,000 tonnes per year. When the newSCA warehouse was finished last yearthe volume climbed to 71,000 annual tonnes.

“This year we expect to handle 80,000 tonnes from International Paper. By
offering our new warehouse we have helped them set an entirely new standard
for the industry,” says Bob de Lange.

Unique warehouse
The recent investment of about EUR European leader 12 million in a new warehouse, a new Panamax container crane (specially adapted for forest industry products) plus a new IT system for handling at the terminal means that ITR can receive a large number of containers and store 150,000 tonnes of pulp. The new warehouse offers unique
hygienic features and has a total area of 20,000 m.sq. Two hundred and seventyfive
of these consist of covered space for forwarding trucks and four loading
bays.

“The warehouse has been designed to handle the most sensitive grades of pulp and paper and it satisfies the demands of HACCP, the regulations that are to
ensure the hygienic handling of food products,” says Bob de Lange.

Leader in fluff pulp
The warehouse has, for example, a finished concrete floor for high-quality handling and efficient cleaning and the building is equipped with efficient devices to shut out birds. Containers are landed and loaded in weatherproof loading bays outside the warehouse itself where only electric clamp and forklift trucks are used.

“All of these features mean that we can offer a service for sensitive paper and
pulp grades that is unique in Dutch harbours. Add SCA Transforest’s extensive service and distribution. Stevedoring and storage capacity of this quality is highly sought-after but the availability has been seriously limited,” says Bob de Lange before adding:

“Our high quality service, our geographic position and our low distribution cost from Rotterdam to receivers in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Slovakian and Poland make us the European leader, in terms of volume, when it comes to the handling of fluff pulp,” says Bob de Lange.

The terminal’s new IT system for stock management has also made it possible to optimise the use of warehouse space. This increases terminal capacity as well as cargo handling speed.

Good experience with intermodal trucks
Unlike competing ports in Germany the Rotterdam terminals have the advantage
of being able to use full-length environmentally-sound tractor-trailer
combinations.

“Theoretically these long rigs can carry 40,000 tonnes excluding the weight of the tractor and trailer. This would mean considerable environmental benefits when SCA transports fluff pulp from the Port of Rotterdam to its hygiene mills in eastern Holland. Experience so far has shown that risk levels and the impact on roads and bridges is the same as conventional trucks.

Facing greater efficiency
The greatest challenge facing InterforestTerminal Rotterdam in the coming years
is to further increase the efficiency of the delivery chain.

“We have to continue to cut transport costs for our customers without
adventuring the quality of our services,” says Bob de Lange.

INTERFOREST TERMINAL ROTTERDAM
- in brief

• Interforest Terminal Rotterdam’s stevedoring operations specialise in the
  handling and storage of pulp and paper along with other dry goods and
  containers.
• ITR has an area of 18 hectares with 700 metres of quay plus six storage sheds
  totalling 72,000 square metres. The quay has 500 metres of crane rails.
• ITR is also linked to the railway network and can readily
  switch between different transport alternatives.
• ITR annually handles about 3 million tonnes of goods. Roughly 1.2 million
  of the total consists of forest industry products and other goods, of which
  half comes via ITR’s parent company, SCA Transforest. The balance of the
  volume consists of 35,000 containers, the equivalent of 70,000 TEUs.
  Using wireless radio technology, WaveLAN, forklift mounted computers and
  barcode reader mean that the barcodes can be scanned, manually or from
  the forklifts, in all six storage sheds.

Text: Carl Johard
Photo: Piet Radder
Sours: New Ways 1/2009