Sekab has adopted tough sustainability goals regarding its own transportation. Goals that we came closer to achieving during the past year. Our logistics planner, Frej Ågren, talks about logistics opportunities and challenges, and what increased acetic acid volumes forward will mean logistically.

”From the production facility in Örnsköldsvik, Sekab sends green chemicals to customers throughout Europe. Our product, ethyl acetate, is shipped by vessel from our storage in Örnsköldsvik to our storage in Antwerp. Even our low-blend ethanol is shipped by vessel and reloaded in Antwerp. To achieve ecological and economic sustainability, we always try to load both ethyl acetate and ethanol on the same boat from Örnsköldsvik, as this fills the space more and requires less transport.

This year’s investment in a new acetic acid tank gives us even better opportunities for such combined vessel shipments. This is because we can achieve full loads more often if we also have acetic acid as an option to ship. Customers are becoming increasingly interested in bio-based acetic acid. We want to meet that demand. Now we can export larger loads with fewer vessel transports and have increased flexibility in storage and logistics management. This means we can offer our customers faster transport of the product they require.

Now we can export larger loads with fewer vessel transports and have increased flexibility in storage and logistics management. This means we can offer our customers faster transport of the product they require.

Environmental changes give us recurring logistical challenges. This summer, it was a drought that made the Rhine almost impassable for a period, which affects our product that is loaded onto barges and goes up the river to Basel. In addition, there is a shortage of barges when they cannot load as much as usual. We have had similar problems before – with drought, but also with floods that damage infrastructure and affect rail transport. This really highlights the fact that all efforts are needed to slow down the negative development.