Benders Sverige AB, one of Sweden’s largest producers of roof tiles, paving stones and kerb stones has been investing in the environment for many years. We were one of the first factories in Europe to receive environmental certification for our production. Our investment is now expanding into transport. To reduce the environmental impact of freight carriage, SEK 50 million is being invested in railway logistics.
“We at Benders have been working with different transport solutions for several years. One goal is to combine road and rail transport and thereby generate economic and environmental benefits,” explains MD Ove Bender, speaking about the company’s SEK 50 million investment.
Benders’ investment has resulted in a transport solution where the combination of rail, road and logistics centres minimises negative environmental impact. Factories and outward delivery warehouses are joined by rail. It is only the last little bit to the customer that requires road transport.
A train shuttle service currently has Tågåkeriet i Bergslagen AB in charge of traffic between Bålsta and Kongsvinger. However, to reach Benders’ facilities in western Sweden, Falköping will also be drawn in. Further extension of this system to other parts of Sweden is already in progress.
Benders is investing in own rail wagons and a container system that can handle pallets carrying Benders’ products. Using the same containers, gravel will form the return loads to Benders’ Bålsta production facility. Negative environmental impact is vastly reduced. Compared to road transport, each train lowers diesel consumption by around 7,000 litres.
The investment includes an approximately 1,500 m extension of the industrial sidings in Bålsta. Shunting is to be taken care of by the company’s own locomotives. Loading/unloading will be directly from/to the production facility.
To streamline gravel loading for return journeys, an approximately 30,000 m2 warehousing terminal is being built in an existing gravel pit just south of Kongsvinger in Norway. This investment is being made by Gunnar Holth Grusforretning A/S, which will be running the terminal jointly with Benders.
After rail transport, outward customer deliveries in Norway will be handled by a variety of vehicles with cranes for unloading to roof or ground (in accordance with customer wishes). The delivery area covers some 300 kilometres around Kongsvinger and our facility in Sandefjord, which has been established for many years.
Benders is also offering other companies space aboard the train shuttle. Areas at both Bålsta and Kongsvinger are being reserved for this. Other flows that are in line for switching from road to rail are production raw materials and trade products that come by road from Germany.
“A stimulating project in which the commitment of our partners’, Tågab in particular, made it rapidly possible to gain knowledge and understanding of rail transport,” Christer Hofling, project manager, Benders.
Benders train investment in brief
- Each train comprises 16 wagons carrying around 1,000 tonnes in total. This is equivalent to about 35 lorries.
- Benders marshals its own industrial sidings using its own Z64 locomotives from 1956. These can each manage up to 9 fully loaded wagons.
- Some 1,500 metres of line with 3 switches have been built at the Bålsta facility.
- Eighteen container wagons have been purchased along with two Z64 shunting locomotives.
- So that electric trains can run into the industrial sidings, a total of around 700 m of overhead lines have been built onto Svenska Banverket’s and Norska Jernbaneverket’s rail facilities.
- From March 2010, 1 – 2 trains a week are scheduled to leave Bålsta with products for our Norwegian customers.
- Compared to road transport, each train with products for Norway reduces diesel consumption by around 7,000 litres.
- Compared to today’s gravel transport by road from Swedish gravel pits, return loads of gravel give a further reduction of 2,000 litres of diesel.
- At Bålsta, which is Benders’ largest production facility, between 80 and 100 lorries are loaded each day for deliveries to customers.
- The train investment makes it possible to increase production volume without increasing road transport to/from Bålsta.
- EU grants have been applied for to cover part of the investment. They have been approved for the first phase.
Rail transport is already under way. Benders’ paving stones designed for heavy terminal use are being carried directly from the Bålsta production facility and are to be laid at the new terminal in Kongsvinger. No lorries are involved at all.
If you have any questions, please contact Christer Hofling on +46 (0)512 787020.
