For one of Sweden’s largest furniture retailers, Mio, proximity to the Falköping terminal is crucial to ensuring smooth logistics.

- We work with different freight forwarders on the import side. When the containers arrive at the Port of Gothenburg, they’re loaded directly onto trains and transported to Falköping. There, they’re reloaded and delivered in the right order to one of our three warehouses, says Sven Wilkens, Logistics Specialist.

Daily shipments from Falköping to Tibro are managed in close coordination with Schenker and Skaraborg Logistics Center, ensuring efficient last-mile logistics. While diesel trucks are currently used for this segment, Mio hopes to soon transition to electric vehicles and make use of the region’s growing charging infrastructure.

Sustainability is already built into their supply chain in another key way:

Transporting containers by rail from the Port of Gothenburg is an obvious choice, thanks to two key advantages:

- First, it’s the environmental aspect — rail means significantly lower emissions than road transport. Second, it’s cost. Sending a truck from Gothenburg to Tibro is much more expensive than sending multiple containers by train to Falköping.

Rail’s reliability is another major plus: any potential disruptions are predictable and manageable. And the ability to send containers directly from ship to train—straight to Falköping—makes a huge difference.

- Falköping is close to Tibro. That means we can quickly get a container when we need it, which gives us flexibility that we wouldn’t have if they were sitting on trucks down in Gothenburg. It’s very important that we can decide the day before which container we want and have it delivered to us early the next morning.

With roots in Germany, Sven Wilkens brings an outside-in perspective to the Skaraborg region—and he appreciates the local business mindset.

- Everyone wants to make money, of course, but people here are committed to finding win-win solutions.

The rapid development of the Falköping terminal and its role in Railport Scandinavia has clearly benefited the region’s business community.

- We have a really good dialogue. Everyone wants the same thing: to transport goods in an efficient, environmentally friendly way, says Wilkens, who also values the relationship with the Port of Gothenburg.

- We have great contact with the port and can share our feedback when needed. We even brought our team to visit the port last year. That wouldn’t have been possible without the great collaboration. It meant a lot for our office staff to actually see it live, not just in a spreadsheet.

Looking ahead, Wilkens hopes rail can reach even more destinations to further reduce road transport — especially for goods headed north. But for now, he’s happy with how the chain works: containers from Asia are unloaded at the Port of Gothenburg, quickly sent by rail to Falköping, and then delivered to Mio’s facilities in Tibro, whenever they’re needed.

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