Debate, Drammen | The timber terminal must be located in inner parts of the Drammensfjord

Debate post This is a debate entry, written by an external contributor. The post expresses the writer’s views.

Before Easter invited LO and the timber industry us county politicians to an information and dialogue meeting on the subject of a new timber terminal. This was useful, informative and constructive. Here we have to play as a team.

As a follow-up of this, I tabled in the county council on 24 April an interpellation about the need for a new timber terminal. Today’s timber terminal at Lierstranda needs a new location when the lease expires in 2028. It is therefore urgent to get the process back on track.

Timber terminal – this is the case

* The timber terminal is located deep in the Drammensfjord, sandwiched between the new hospital and what is planned as the major investment “Fjordbyen”.

* The timber terminal accepts and ships out timber from the entire eastern region.

* The timber terminal has a contract to operate where it is now until 2028, and should then be moved to a new area.

* The ongoing debate and investigations aim to determine the timber terminal’s new location.

The timber terminal receives i day timber from 70 municipalities, and on average over 300,000m2 of timber has passed through the port every year since 2014. This makes the terminal one of the country’s largest and most important. The terminal is therefore very important for a large industry that employs many people. Timber prices are currently the highest since the end of the 90s, and the forestry industry is undoubtedly an industry of the future and an important part of the green shift and transition from black to green carbon.

also read

Cheering for no to the timber port: – We are very happy

The timber industry has been clear that localization is absolutely crucial for competitiveness. The main requirement is the shortest possible distance from the largest possible timber resources. Each extra mile on a timber truck costs NOK 12-15 per approx. Analyzes clearly point to the fact that it is therefore in the inner parts of the Drammensfjord that a terminal must be located. Everything else leads to increased transport costs and reduced competitiveness.

Buskerud County Municipality started in the period 2015-2019 worked on a regional plan to find a new location for the timber terminal, but due to the regional reform the plan was not adopted because the recommended proposal Juve in Svelvik was located in Vestfold county. The case was therefore forwarded to Viken County Council with a request decision to follow up on the case. In a letter from the Ministry of Trade and Industry to Viken county municipality in June 2023, we can read that the ministry asks the new Buskerud county municipality to again try to land this through a regional planning process.

The post continues below the map

Several actors have pointed at Juve in Svelvik who wanted localization, but there is great local opposition to this in the old Svelvik municipality and Drammen municipality, due to the increased load it will entail from activity and traffic in the area. This is understandable. Therefore, a new process must look at several options.

The answer from the county mayor to my interpellation was that administrative work is now underway between Buskerud county municipality, Lier municipality and Drammen municipality, and that we will eventually get a case for political consideration. It is good, and it gives me hope that we can now have a process that leads to this being landed once and for all.

News from Drammens Tidende