Sustainable transport

Setra's operations depend on transport, and it accounts for the majority of our greenhouse gas emissions. We are therefore working in a targeted way to make the transports as efficient and sustainable as possible.

Our opportunities and challenges

Setra transports large volumes, often across long distances, which makes efficient logistics crucial to our business. Our sawmills and processing units are located in rural Sweden, and approximately 65 percent of sales are exported to customers in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In total, transport operations account for 10–15 percent of Setra’s costs and almost 85 percent of our total climate emissions (see the Climate report on page 28 for details).

Viewed from the perspective of the entire life cycle, our wood products strongly benefit the climate even if they are transported to the other side of the world, because they bind so much more carbon dioxide than their production and transport generate. Nevertheless, it is naturally important for us to do whatever we can to minimise emissions from the transport operations. Participating in the development of new, renewable fuels and switching loads from road to rail are two important steps along the path.

Governance

Fundamentally, the transport options we use must be efficient, safe and climate- and eco-friendly; they must also meet requirements for a good working environment and good working conditions for transport company employees. The requirements we apply are based on the Swedish Forest Industries Federation’s sustainability criteria for road transport, as well as criteria from Q3, which is an association for sustainable road transport.

How we work

Working relationships, dialogue and follow-up

We choose our partners with care and only work with reliable shipping lines and forwarders who maintain a high level of quality and comply with applicable laws and regulations. In all, our business helps provide employment for around 300 people in the transport sector.

Setra’s Code of Conduct for Suppliers applies to all new agreements we conclude. We expect all our existing suppliers of transport services to approve this code by no later than 2021. The code stipulates fundamental sustainability requirements concerning areas such as the employees’ conditions of work and pay, and the supplier’s own environmental work.

We also monitor how our partners handle their systematic sustainability work, by requesting and assessing the responses to a survey from the association Q3. The survey asks suppliers questions about social responsibility, the working environment, traffic safety and measures to reduce climate impact. In 2021, it will be possible to use responses to the survey to rank suppliers in the C-load booking platform. Suppliers who fail to complete the survey will be awarded a low ranking, thus reducing their likelihood of receiving assignments.

We also monitor the situation by collecting emission reports as the basis for our climate calculations. We hold regular alignment meetings with our suppliers, where sustainability is a fixed point on the agenda.

Fossil-free top of mind

For domestic road transport, we have a long-term agreement with a principal supplier, Unite, which puts us in a better position to achieve optimised, smart transport chains. For example, the same vehicle can be used to transport sawn wood from a sawmill to a processing unit, collect finished products and deliver them to nearby customers. Unite has a well-developed programme of environmental work, with the objective of becoming fossil free by 2030, and is a prime mover in encouraging fuel companies to increase their use of non-fossil additives. The company is also assessing biogas as an alternative fuel and in 2020 launched a three-year development project involving the use of vehicles powered by biogas for half the transports of bioproducts from Setra's unit in Hasselfors to E.ON’s Åbyverket power plant in Örebro.

As regards our new products, construction solutions in CLT and glulam, interest in fossil-free transport is especially high. We therefore offer a transport solution based on 100 percent HVO.

Efficiency in every load

Working closely with our partners, we strive to achieve the most optimal trans-

Climate benefit

Our wood products are of major benefit to the climate, even if they are transported to the other side of the world – because they bind so much more carbon dioxide than is released through their production and transport.

18%

The proportion of our sawn wood products transported in part by rail in 2020.

Principal type of transport

Share of sold wood products

48% 52%

As from 2021, a share of Setra’s sawdust will be used to make renewable fuel.

port flows possible. This is a question of developing flexible and efficient links in the transport chain involving optimising the capacity utilisation and running rate – i.e. utilising as much of the cargo space as possible and minimising the distance the vehicle drives without a load.

Adapting sales volumes to match the capacity of the transport vehicles and installing scales to weigh each pack are examples of measures that can help improve the load factor.

Through our working relationship with Triona and the digital platform C-load, we can choose the supplier that best matches each individual load. Transport needs and available transport capacity are coordinated so that our transport partners can find loads that match their flows. This contributes to a higher load efficiency.

Focus on rail and sea transport

Rail transport is the most advantageous option from an environmental perspective, but sea transport also generates lower emissions per tonne kilometre than road freight. In 2020, on the basis of the increased volumes from Setra’s new planing mill in Hasselfors, we were able to start a more efficient shipping route to the UK from Kristinehamn. The new route not only shortens the total length of transport, but also makes a significant reduction to the distance the goods have to be transported by road.

Today, around 18 (10) percent of our sawn wood products travel a part of the distance by rail – a substantial increase on 2019. By concentrating on running Setra’s export flow to Asia through the port of Gothenburg, we have been able to utilise the rail connections from the hubs in Central Sweden down to the shipping point.

Our ambition is to continue increasing the share of rail transport, and we are working to link existing rail connections at Kastet, Skinnskatteberg and Hasselfors with the unit in Heby. Today, around 4 percent of our timber arrives by train, and if we succeed in increasing this share, it will generate a huge climate benefit – not only for our own flows, but also for timber suppliers and society in general. By linking additional units to the railway network, we can also carry timber long distances in a cost-effective manner in connection with storm felling and insect attacks. In the long term, we can also see good opportunities to use the railways for the long-distance transport of bioproducts, pulpwood and finished products.

We are planning investments in the working relationship with the Swedish Transport Administration, which we expect to implement in the period 2021–2023, starting with Hasselfors in 2021. The infrastructure initiative in Heby is the most comprehensive, encompassing a new industrial railway line and terminal at the sawmill. All investments in railway infrastructure are to be co-financed by the Swedish Traffic Administration and Region Uppsala.

Development of renewable fuel

As a processor of raw material from forests, Setra is uniquely placed to contribute to an increase in renewable fuel and a reduction in the climate impact of transport. Through the jointly owned company Pyrocell, Setra and Preem are working together on the production of bio-oil from sawdust. This oil can replace a part of the fossil raw material used in standard petrol and diesel, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 80–90 percent in relation to fossil fuel.

The factory is located next to Setra’s Kastet sawmill in Gävle and production is scheduled to start towards the end of 2021. The facility is expected to produce around 25,000 tonnes of bio-oil per year, corresponding to the annual consumption of up to 17,000 cars.

Industry partnerships

In order to make a bigger contribution to a more sustainable transport sector in the future, we are actively involved in a number of industry forums and dialogues. Over the past year, we have continued our working relationships with other transport-intensive companies via the Mid Sweden Chamber of Commerce. The Swedish Forest Industries Federation, of which Setra is a member, is lobbying to have longer and heavier goods vehicles allowed to operate in Sweden, a move that should help cut both traffic and emissions.

The electrification of heavy traffic, more intermodal transport (i.e. solutions involving the use of different means of transport) and emission issues linked to sea transport are other areas where we are working with the sector to make a difference.

On the right track towards the future

Rail is the best transport option from the perspective of the climate, and Setra is working in several areas to increase the proportion of rail transport. Over the past year, the share of wood products that make at least part of their journey by rail has almost doubled.

How have you managed to increase the share of rail transport?

We’ve started making more use than previously of the rail terminals located close to the units where we manufacture our export products. For example, goods for Asia are loaded into containers directly at the sawmill and then carried by road to a railway terminal. From there, they can travel all the way to the port in Gothenburg, from where we ship the majority of our exports. We have also been using the railway solution from Gävle to Gothenburg more frequently and reduced the volume shipped by vessel from Gävle. In other words, we have replaced a number of our sea transport loads with rail transport.

Is it possible to increase the use of rail transport outside Sweden as well?

Wood products destined for customers in Europe are still collected by lorries. Some trailers are then loaded onto railway wagons in Sweden, which transport them to the destination country where they are loaded onto another lorry that completes the delivery. We are in dialogue with our transport booking partner about making it easier to book solutions of this kind. So there is potential for increasing the proportion of goods that travel down through the continent by rail.

What is Setra’s vision for the future as regards rail transport?

In an ideal world, there would be rail connections to all our units. We would then be able to receive trains of empty containers that we could unload, fill up and then have collected by another train. However, the investments involved are considerable so we need to investigate the situation carefully and look into the infrastructure issues beyond our own gates. We are running several projects intended to improve access to the rail network near our units. For example, we are working with the Swedish Traffic Administration and the Municipality of Heby to analyse the possibility of a new industrial track and terminal at the sawmill. This is an initiative with the potential to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2,500–3,000 tonnes per year.

Maria Jansson, Logistics Manager