Fairway deepening starts at Port of Gothenburg

Port of Gothenburg on Monday celebrated an important milestone as the ground was broken for the Skandia Gateway project.

The work had already unofficially started with excavation and diving works when representatives from the port, the shipping world, the cargo owner side, and politics had gathered at the far end of the quay in Skandiahamnen – the Port of Gothenburg container terminal.

“When this project is completed by the turn of the year 2027-2028, Swedish industry will have better transport conditions and be better connected to the rest of the world. This in itself means that Sweden’s competitiveness increases, which is the driving force at the Port of Gothenburg,” said Göran Eriksson, CEO of the Gothenburg Port Authority during the ceremony.

The budget for the entire project is EUR 244,7 million (2017 cost situation), of which the Gothenburg Port Authority (Gothenburg municipality) accounts for EUR 110 million. The Gothenburg Port Authority has previously also been notified of EU support for parts of the project via the Connect Europe Facility fund.

All preliminary studies, risk analyses, simulations, environmental permits and other types of preparatory work have already been completed.

Skandia Gateway is a collaborative project where GHAB is responsible for quay reinforcement measures in the container terminal, while the Swedish Maritime Administration is responsible for measures in the fairway.

Initially, 700m of the quay will be reinforced. This is a prerequisite for the quay to be ready to accommodate larger vessels than possible today, and for the Swedish Maritime Administration to start dredging work in a 5-km stretch of the fairway, where 11M m3 of clay will be excavated.

The dredging will take the fairway from 13.5m to a maximum 17.5m ship draught and the channel will be able to accommodate ships up to 430m long and 65m wide. Fairway dredging work is due to start in Q3 2026.

The Port of Gothenburg is the largest in Scandinavia. Around 30% of Swedish domestic and foreign trade passes through the Port of Gothenburg and over 50% of all container traffic. With over 30 rail shuttles offering daily departures, companies throughout Sweden and Norway have a direct, climate-neutral service to the Port of Gothenburg. The port handles energy products, vehicles, ro-ro units, containers and passengers. 22,000 people are employed at the port.