24/06/2026
Is Sweden a shipping-hostile nation?
Recently, shipping and our friends, road, railway, flight and the important partner the ports that connects the different types of transport have gained more eye and ear from politicians, press and the common people that starts to see the need for a fine-tuned transport system. For years we heard the discussions about moving goods from overloaded road systems to rail and shipping and there has been official reports about the importance.
We often hear word like social utility & sustainability.
In order to be a competitive supplier of transport services, time is of essence.
Recently we have seen an increased problem with pilotage service. There are no pilots, vessels are delayed and it creates a lot of extra work for us with related operations in port.
I will give an example:
Our vessel Lister have been chartered for a voyage Västerås to Halmstad.
Captain ordered pilot on Marine Single Window when he got voyage order at 23/6 08:00 for pilot at Landsort 24/6 02:00.
Captain then received an confirmation for 24/6 16:00 due to lack of pilots.
Today we got a new confirmation for 25/6 16:00 due to lack of pilots again.
We have not yest seen that these confirmations will be reality.
With a pilot at 02:00 on the 24/6 as ordered vessel would be in Västerås around noon on the 24th. We could then start loading for completion on the 25th and be in Halmstad in due time for start discharging Monday morning 29th to be completed the day after.
Even with a pilot today 16:00 as first confirmed we would have managed before the weekend.
With the new delay vessel will most likely not be completed before weekend and will be in Halmstad för discharging 2-3 July if there are pilots for departure.
So a voyage that should take 7 days will take 10 days if there are pilots for departure. If not we lose the weekend and it will be 13 days, almost double time.
The emissions per transported ton will increase with all delays, did I hear the word sustainability?
This is not an exceptional situation, this is our everyday life.
We lose hundreds of thousands Swedish crowns monthly on a non-functioning Swedish Maritime Administration.
Yes you can get a refund for delay, from confirmed pilot order and up to maximum 4 hours… that’s just a few percent of the pilot cost in and out to Mälaren and as an addition to that we have our daily costs.
There is an option for our Captains with Pilot Exemptions, but all our efforts with that stops when there aren’t any pilots that can make the required information trips for our Captains since it’s just a few of the pilots can do that.
We don’t ask for miracle or we at least don’t think so, we ask that the Swedish Maritime Administration do what they are there for to give us a fair chance to be a part in the transport system!
