What Is Nordic Link?

Nordic Link 2

What is Nordic Link?

The core of Nordic Link is a passengers cross the Katte- transport corridor to and from gat/Skagerak by ferry. This Sweden and Norway through makes it possible to sail many Bergen the Danish peninsula of Jut- times a day. land. Nordic Link is, however, Oslo more than just the physical transport network. It is also

Stavanger

Kristiansand

Göteborg

København

Hamburg

The port of Göteborg cooperation covering the The corridor is of major centres and harbours in the Sweden organisation of goods trans- importance to Nordic com- towns of Aalborg, Hanstholm, In Sweden, Nordic Link port, economic planning and munication and trade. At the Grenaa, Århus, Fredericia begins in Gothenburg, where policy making as well as the same time, it is vital to Swe- and Esbjerg. the E6 continues directly to financing and extension of dish and Norwegian trade Oslo. In addition, there are Nordic Link in the future. with the rest of Europe. Norway also road connections to The entire southern coast of Stockholm and Helsinki. Over the past decade, region- Nordic Link traffic creates Norway is connected to the There is also a direct railway al and local authorities and a thousands of jobs. This is why European roads from Bergen line from the Gothenburg line number of private hauliers in extension of the Nordic Link in the west via Kristiansand to to Oslo and Stockholm. South Norway, West Sweden has top priority among autho- Oslo. This network of roads is and Jutland have given the rities and trade and industry also connected with harbours transport corridor top priority. in the area. Nordic Link is and railway lines. To the The private companies and comprised of the following: north, the road goes from public authorities also co- Kristiansand through western operate with research institu- Denmark Norway via Bergen to Trond- tions to continue to develop The main stem of Nordic Link heim. This route is also the transport corridor, so it is in Jutland is made up of the known as the coastal trunk always ready to meet the motorways and the railway road, and the counties in demands of trade and indu- between the border in the western Norway are making stry for fast and efficient trans- south and the ferry harbours every effort to speed up the port. of Hirtshals and Frederiks- extension of this road. havn in the north. En route, Every year, about 3.7 million the main stem has several tons of goods and over 7.2 important branches to larger 3

Nordic Link is a corridor of opportunity

Based on the support of the business community, hauliers, buyers of transport, politicians and scientists, the following aims have been Bergen formulated for the Nordic Link: Oslo • A strengthening of the competitiveness of the business community. Moss • Development of Nordic Sandefjord Link's position in the trans- Grenland Stavanger European transport network. Larvik Strömstad

• More environmentally- Uddevalla friendly and sustainable transport. Trollhättan Egersund • Assurance of an efficient Kristiansand and competitive transport corridor. Göteborg

These aims are to be achieved Hirtshals Borås Jönköping through the efforts of the Frederikshavn hauliers, buyers of transport, Hanstholm politicians and other interested Aalborg parties to: Varberg • Support the continued development of the infra- Grenaa structure • Contribute to utilization of Herning /Ikast the infrastructure and trans- Århus port equipment more effi- Vejle ciently Taulov København

• Use even cleaner Esbjerg technology Odense

Nordic Link will, therefore, Padborg improve the quality of trans- Flensborg port by:

• Overall transport from door Kiel to door (floor to floor) • Punctual transport - "just in Bremerhaven time" Hamburg

• Less damage to goods and Bremen fewer accidents • Shorter transport time • Frequent and good ferry services 4

The roads

Bergen

Oslo E6

E18 Moss E18

Sandefjord E6 Stavanger Svinesund Grenland Strömstad Larvik Uddevalla E18 Trollhättan E39 E18 Egersund 44 E6

Kristiansand Göteborg Jönköping Hirtshals Borås Frederikshavn E39 E4 Hanstholm E6 E45 Aalborg Varberg

Almost all goods in the Nor- the wide main road toward E45 dic Link corridor are transpor- Herning and Hanstholm. Grenaa ted by road. These roads are large enough Herning to prevent bottlenecks. Århus Trekant- København området Denmark Odense Esbjerg There is a high standard of Every year, approximately 1.4 E20 roads in the Danish Nordic million lorries cross the E20 Link. From 2000, a 4-lane Danish-German border and Flensborg motorway will connect Frede- over half of these use the E45 rikshavn and the German bor- main Jutland trunk road, E45, Kiel der and the European motor- the Nordic Link. way network, and from 2002 Bremerhaven Hamburg this will be extended to Hirts- There are plans to increase E22 Bremen hals. The motorway is con- capacity near Aalborg with an E26 nected with the westbound extra connection over the E45 motorway to Esbjerg and to Limfjord.

Norway On the Norwegian section of the Nordic Link, along a number of short stretches, the E39 from Stavanger to Kristian- sand and the E18 to Oslo are now up to motorway standard. Development is neces- sary to ensure a high general standard.

Sweden The Swedish section of the Nordic Link begins at Got- henburg and extends from there to Oslo and Stockholm, respectively. Over half the road connecting Oslo and Gothenburg is up to motorway standard. Distances to the central part of mid- Sweden are relatively short, and hauliers can choose various routes. 5

The Railway network

Bergen Oslo

Drammen Kongsberg Ski Moss Notodden Tøns- Frederiksstad berg Kornsjø

ækning Stavanger Planlagt str Mellerud Larvik

Egersund Trollhättan Falköping The network of railways in Double tracks are currently

Kristiansand the Danish section of the Nor- being installed on the south- Göteborg dic Link has a high standard. bound line from Oslo to Lar- Hirtshals There are double tracks from vik. There are plans to conti- Hjørring Frederikshavn Aalborg to the German bor- nue the line to Kristiansand as der, and track improvement Aalborg a single-track line in order to Varberg and electrification is planned join the Vestfold and Sørland in Jutland. The line connecting lines. Aalborg and the ferry harbours is single track. Goods carried by rail Herning Århus Of the 3.7 million tons goods København Vejle The railway between Stavan- annually transported by ferry Fredericia Esbjerg ger and Oslo in southern over the Skagerak and Kattegat Odense Norway is electrified and 0.1 million tons are carried to single track. This track is not and from the ferries by train. Padborg Flensborg suitable for high speed trains Efforts are being made to nor for modern goods trains. transfer more of these goods Kiel to trains. Combined terminals The stretch between Oslo and to transfer goods from lorries

Hamburg Gothenburg is mainly single to trains have thus been track and extra capacity is established in Hirtshals, Fre- needed. derikshavn and Kristiansand.

Electrified tracks 6

Ferry links

Bergen Oslo E6

E18 Moss E18 Sandefjord E6 Stavanger Svinesund Grenland Strömstad Larvik E18 Trollhättan E39 E18 Uddevalla Egersund 44 Kristiansand Euro-Port Norway E6

The ferry routes are a central Kristiansand Göteborg part of the Nordic Link, and Jönköping the ferry harbours form cen- Hirtshals Borås tral, natural junctions in the Frederikshavn E39 E4 Nordic Link corridor. Hanstholm E6 E45 Aalborg Varberg

E45 Grenaa Herning

Århus Trekant- København området Odense Christian IV Esbjerg E20 E20 Nordic Link includes the following ferry routes: Flensborg • Kristiansand - Hirtshals E45 • Oslo - Hirtshals • Moss - Hirtshals Kiel • Larvik - Frederikshavn • Oslo - Frederikshavn Bremerhaven Hamburg • Sandefjord - Strömstad E22 • Gothenburg - Frederikshavn • Varberg - Grenaa Bremen E26 • Egersund - Hanstholm E45 • Bergen - Hanstholm Stena Jutlandica Nordic Link ferries transport There is an increasing tenden- 3.7 million tons a year. cy for goods to be shipped on loose trailers without drivers. Color Line carried 1 million tons of goods in 1998 and 0.9 Ferries in the Nordic Link million tons of goods in 1999. have large goods capacity, and the many passengers on Similarly, Stena Line carried these routes ensure many and 2.7 million tons of goods in frequent departures. 1998 and 2.8 million tons in 1999 on the Oslo-Frederiks- The route between Gothen- havn, Gothenburg-Frederiks- burg and Frederikshavn can havn and Varberg-Grenaa carry railway waggons. The routes. other ferry harbours have railway lines and the means of handling combined transport. The port of Hirtshals The port of Frederikshavn 7

Nordic Link in the future

International goods transport is expected to increase 2 to 3% annually. As in recent years, it is expected this increase will be seen mainly in road transport.

Future perspectives indicate that the goods will be collec- ted in selected transport corridors that ensure fast, and efficient transport. A network of transport corridors has already been defined in the EU and the countries of eastern Europe. Norway is not included in this network, but the Norwegian government are at present designating corridors where combined transport solutions can ensure efficient transport links.

In the future, it will be neces- sary for the corridors to handle alternative types of transport. For example, domestic ship- ping is to be integrated in The barriers • In Jutland the southbound combined transport. The Nor- Until now, international plan- road from the ferries in dic Link will thus be faced ning in the transport sector Frederikshavn will be up to with new challenges. has not had high priority. In motorway standard by the Nordic countries, the 2000 and from Hirtshals by individual governments have 2002. primarily concentrated on the "Nordic triangle", the Øre- • The trunk road network sund connection and the from Oslo along the coast Femer Belt connection. of southern Norway to Ber-. gen will undergo improve- Alternative corridors which ment to increase its stan- already have the capacity to dard. handle more goods than they do at present have lost out. • The national harbours in Norway will be given Scan Link, for example, cur- higher priority. Making the rently controls much of the harbours more efficient is goods carried by rail. Large central to the planning of sums have been invested in, combined transports to en- among other things, ferries sure that Norwegian and terminals with a view to exports and imports reach handling rail goods. This their destinations in an effi- development is dependent on cient manner. price agreements entered into by the Danish, Norwe- Finally, the Norwegian gian and Swedish railway government has a long-term companies. objective to build double track railway lines connecting Activities and priorities Oslo and Halden. In addition, In order to influence this efforts are being made to development, Nordic Link coordinate Swedish and has taken initiatives to im- Norwegian investments. prove the transport corridor: Further Information 10 years of Nordic Link

If you require further information about Nordic Link and related acti- At the end of the 1980s, the Danish Road Directorate described the idea vities you are welcome to contact the County of North Jutland or Vest- of developing the transport corridor which was known as Nordlink at agder County. that time. The idea was followed up by a group that wanted to assess the possibilities of improving cooperation in the transport sector in the area around Skagerak and the northern part of the Kattegat. The group The County of North Jutland included the Jutland transport sector, representatives from the ferry Industrial Trade Policy Division lines and representatives from south Norway and west Sweden. Niels Bohrs Vej 30 P.O.Box 8300 Gradually, as the group described the potentials of a Nordic Link in a number of publications, policy makers also became involved. Thus, DK-9220 Aalborg Øst work was carried out both by an association of private interests, Denmark "Association Nordic Link", and a political group with a secretariat in the County of North Jutland. Telephone: +45 9635 1000 Telefax: +45 9815 4029 Two years later, in 1994, cooperation increased when the Nordic Link e-mail: [email protected] Transport Network was established. The network includes people from the research and development environment in Jutland, south Norway and west Sweden. Vestagder County Næringsavdelingen P.O. Box 770 Over the years, those participating in these joint efforts have published N-4601 Kristiansand a number of publications on various aspects of Nordic Link. A list of Norway these publications is available from the Industrial Trade Policy Divisi- on of the County of North Jutland. Telephone: +47 3807 4500 Telefax: +47 3807 4504 e-mail: leif.storsve @vestagder-f.kommune.no

The above offices will also be able to refer you to other persons or organisations engaged in Nordic Link activities. Asbjørn Kommunikation 12/2000