SCA is the first company in the world to equip its entire fleet of vessels with catalytic converter cleaning. For an investment of SEK 20 million (around $2.5 million) they claim to be able to reduce NOX (oxides of nitrogen) emissions by 90%, 1400 tonnes per year in all. "That's equivalent to the NOX emissions for all our truck haulage operations, both of timber and of finished products", says Rolf Johannesson, CEO at SCA Transforest.

"We're now giving priority to reducing the emissions from the vessels, after having mainly concentrated up to now on cutting the emissions from our plants," says Chief Information Officer Björn Lyngfelt at SCA Graphic Paper.
Last year, after a comprehensive survey of the environmental effects of transport by vessel, truck and rail, SCA switched to low-sulphur oil for fuel in the three special vessels that carry forest industry products from the north of Sweden to various ports in Europe. As a result, emissions of sulphur dioxide fell by more than 1000 tonnes a year, more than the total emissions of the mills that the vessels serve.
"We were surprised when we discovered that emissions from the vessels were greater than from the mills", says Björn Lyngfelt, but now we've done something about it.
The vessels will be fitted with catalytic converters during normal maintenance, starting from the spring of 1999.
At around 20 million Swedish kronor (in the region of $2.5 million) in capital outlay and higher operating costs, the cost of the measures is considerable.
"We now have a basis for setting individual environmental targets for each mill and destination", says Rolf Johannesson. "In discussions with our customers we must try to find the best transport combination to enable us to deliver our goods at the right time, with the smallest possible impact on the environment and at the lowest cost.

Caption:
With an investment of 20 million kronor, all of SCA's vessels are to be fitted with catalytic converters, reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides by 90%.

For further information, contact:
Rolf Johannesson, CEO, SCA Transforest
Phone: +46 60 19 35 63
Björn Lyngfelt, Chief Information Officer,
SCA Graphic Paper,
Phone: +46 60 16 44 22

Background
SCA Graphic Paper is a company in the SCA Group. The company produces newsprint, SC-paper (high-gloss printing paper), LWC paper (coated printing paper) and chlorine-free pulp at mills in Sweden and Austria. In the United Kingdom, SCA, together with Mondi Minorco Paper, owns Aylesford Newsprint Ltd, which produces newsprint from 100% recycled paper.
SCA Transforest is SCA's transport company, and is responsible for transport by sea, road and rail.
SCA uses three vessels built specially to transport the company's products. The vessels, each of which can carry a cargo of about 9000 tonnes, operate on a fixed route between SCA's sites in the north of Sweden, Rotterdam in Holland and Tilbury in England, from where the products are transported on to the customer. The products are loaded with the aid of a cassette system and the vessels are unloaded and loaded in a few hours. The vessels and the transport system went into service in 1996.

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