LKAB Strengthens Logistics in the North with a New Ship Loader in the Port of Narvik

LKAB’s new ship loader in the port of Narvik. The ship loader will strenghten the company’s logistics system, creating the conditions for long-term operations in the region.

The Swedish mining company LKAB’s new ship loader in the Port of Narvik, Northern Norway, was officially opened on Thursday this week.

The company’s old ship loader was commissioned in 1977, and has reached the end of its technical lifespan, the company states.

The new ship loader is part of a larger investment program of five billion SEK in the port, which the company announced in 2022. The investment program runs until 2029 and includes automated silo systems, a new loader, sifting stations, belt conveyors, unloading stations and a new storage facility for fines.

The purpose is to streamline logistics between mines, the railway and ships.

LKAB is a Swedish state-owned mining company that extracts iron ore in several places in Norrbotten in Northern Sweden. The company accounts for 80 percent of all iron ore mined in the EU and is Europe’s largest iron ore producer.

Most of the iron ore that the company produces is transported via the railway, the Iron Ore Line, which runs through Northern Sweden to Northern Norway, and ends in the ice-free harbor in Narvik.

From here, the products are shipped to global markets, and the port is thus crucial for LKAB’s exports.

“We see Narvik as a central part of LKAB’s future. The Iron Ore Line and the port of Narvik are of great economic importance for Sweden and a strategically vital transport corridor for all of Europe. What still remains is to increase capacity along the entire Iron Ore Line,” says Jan Moström, CEO of LKAB, in a press release.

The LKAB group had sales of about SEK 33 billion in 2024. The year before, the company delivered a major dividend to the Swedish state of 7.6 billion SEK.

“Our logistics is a competitive factor. Every improvement in the port strengthens our position in the global market. The new loader is enclosed and equipped with modern safety solutions, which is important not least from a work environment perspective. This secures our ability to deliver quickly, safely, and sustainably,” says Marit Waleniussen, CEO of LKAB Norway.

More about LKAB here: https://lkab.com/en/