From Norwegian Marble to international Paper
The raw material is marble from mines in Eide, Fræna and Brønnøysund. Most of it is transported to the facility by boat. The marble is ground, washed and sieved at the production plant in Elnesvågen.
The finished product, i.e. the liquid marble (or Hydrocarb slurry), almost looks like cream, but has a far higher density. The average size of each particle is 2/1000 millimetre! Liquid marble is used in the production of paper, either as filler or as coating. Magazine paper or glossy paper contains up to 55% marble, while in ordinary copy paper the percentage of marble is somewhat less – about 30%. Liquid marble is over 99% pure. It is also used in food packaging material, such as milk cartons.
Efficient and environmentally friendly transport by purpose built tankers makes Hustadmarmor competitive, despite the fact that the company is far removed from the big markets. 99 % of the production goes to export. A vessel carrying almost up to 20'0000 tons of liquid marble frequently leaves the pier in Elnesvågen on course to customers in Europe.
The customers are big paper manufacturers in North and Central Europe.
Hustadmarmor logistics is mainly about transport by sea. Ca 3 million tonnes finished product has to be distributed to tank storage facilities during one year.
An advanced logistics system involving the production unit, sales offices, shipping agent and shipowner has been developed to ensure an optimal logistics solution, at the lowest cost possible.
In the early 1980s Hustadmarmor entered into cooperation with the Bergen based shipowner company Anders Utkilens Rederi AS, which is today called Utkilen AS. The boats are of various sizes and can carry several different types of slurry.
The tankers have to sail in very different weather conditions along the Norwegian coast and the North-Sea basin. In the Baltic sea the ice can pose difficult challenges in the winter, and in extreme cases an ice breaker has to be employed. The duration of the sailings vary from the shortest distance of 36 hours, to the longest of about 9 days. A programme for building new boats has been commenced to ensure that Utkilen maintains their modern and well kept fleet.
From the storage facilities the liquid marble (the slurry) is transported further by road, railroad and barges to the end user. Hustadmarmor shall always deliver the products on time, and make sure that the giant paper machines always gets the right amount of filler and coating material of the appropriate quality.
Hustadmarmor can also supply products for other purposes than paper manufacturing. These are slurry products for water treatment, fish farming, agriculture and lime treatment of waterways.
These are mainly transported by tanker lorries.
