Swedish timber producer Fiskarheden has launched a new bi-weekly rail service running 44 40-foot containers per departure from Malungsfors in Dalarna to the Port of Gothenburg, where the sawn timber is loaded onto ocean vessels bound for Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

The first train departed this week under a solution built by TFK Logistics. Trains will run every other Monday initially, with capacity to expand if export volumes grow. Around 90 per cent of Fiskarheden's production is already exported, and the company views rail as the most cost-effective option for its inland freight.

What is moving through the service?

The launch cargo is sawn timber used by buyers across three end-markets:

• Furniture manufacturing
• Construction
• Concrete formwork

Destinations span Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, making Gothenburg the export gateway for an inland producer that previously relied on alternative routing.

Who is behind the operation?

Fiskarheden, a Dalarna-based sawmill group, contracted TFK Logistics to design the inland leg. Fiskarheden CEO Joakim Limberg framed the decision as a return to a working model.

"We want to move as much of our inland freight as possible by rail, so it feels very good to be back at the Port of Gothenburg. TFK Logistics has developed a cost-effective and flexible solution that suits us and is also open to other companies in the region."

TFK's setup is open to neighbouring shippers, giving the operator a path to scale beyond Fiskarheden's base load of 44 FEUs per cycle.

Can the boxes come back full?

Fiskarheden is in active talks with regional businesses about filling the 40-foot containers on the northbound journey from Gothenburg to Dalarna with imported goods. Limberg said a round-loaded service would change the economics for local companies.

"We are talking to businesses in the region about shipments in both directions. That would make the service even more valuable to local businesses."

For the Port of Gothenburg, the service sits inside its Railport Scandinavia offering, which pitches inland rail connections as the primary interface between Swedish exporters and deep-sea shipping.

What does Gothenburg get out of it?

Richard Mellgren, Senior Business Development Manager at the Port of Gothenburg, positioned the Fiskarheden launch as proof of concept for the inland rail proposition.

"Fiskarheden's decision to use rail to reach the Port of Gothenburg again is a good example of what Railport Scandinavia can offer. Rail gives exporters inland an efficient way to access international shipping."

Each bi-weekly departure adds 44 FEUs of export lift to Gothenburg's hinterland volumes and, if import backhauling materialises, the same boxes can be repositioned without empty-leg costs. That round-trip economics will determine whether the service scales beyond the current fortnightly cadence or remains a single-customer operation.

The next test comes on the second Monday, when the second train departs Malungsfors and the operators gauge whether the 44-FEU template attracts enough co-load cargo from other Dalarna exporters to justify adding a second weekly round trip.