![Under söndagen den 28 februari lossades de två transportfartyg som fraktat 320 svenska fordon från Viktoriahamnen i Luleå till övningen Cold response 2016]()
Tracked vehicles from the Göta Engineer Regiment lined up on the quayside.
Photo: Mats Carlsson/Swedish Armed Forces
![Under söndagen den 28 februari lossades de två transportfartyg som fraktat 320 svenska fordon från Viktoriahamnen i Luleå till övningen Cold response 2016]()
The Swedish units are now on Norwegian land; on Sunday 320 vehicles were unloaded from two transport ships in the training area for Cold Response.
Photo: Mats Carlsson /Försvarsmakten
Moving over 2000 personnel, hundreds of vehicles and large amounts of equipment clearly requires careful planning.
"This is a huge logistical puzzle that has been planned since the start of autumn 2015. It includes road, rail and air transport to Cold Response, as well as everything that has been transported to the Ground Combat Days and the Winter Sun exercise in Boden. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the operation, we have ordered 280 bus transport journeys and around 40 flights," continues Stefan Joon.
Movcon - Movement and Control
The two transport vessels, Finnland and Gute, arrived in Norway on Saturday evening. Relief forces from Swedish units arrived at the port early Sunday morning to drive all the vehicles ashore. It was full speed ahead by 09.00, and after a couple of hours the parking areas were full.
"The Movcon company from the Träng regiment has what is called terminal responsibility here in the port. Movcon personnel, together with personnel from the Norwegian Movcon force and liaison officers from each unit ensure that everything is parked in the correct locations so that there is a good flow when they leave the port," says Stefan Joon.
Before it was time to roll out to the training area, snow chains were put on and checks were made that all equipment and other objects were well attached to lorries, combat vehicles, tracked vehicles and other vehicles.
Exciting and challenging
One of the soldiers and officers present in the port was Andreas Cato, deputy service chief from the service platoon in the Command and Control Regiment. Is is the first time that Andreas has been involved in Cold Response.
"Great that we are finally here after weeks of preparation. This is an extremely important exercise. Our chiefs have been very clear about that. It will be exciting to take part, and in particular it feels like a real challenge having the opportunity to exercise with other countries," says Andreas.
Ready in five hours
By 14.20 the two vessels were unloaded and the units were parked in their starting positions.
"Everything went very well, thanks to good planning and smooth interaction between Movcon personnel and the units. This meant that we managed to unload the ships in a little over five hours," says Stefan Joon and continues:
"The next challenge will be to load everything on board again for the return journey. There will be three ships for the Swedish units, which will be loaded one by one since we only have one berth available. There are three other nations who will be loading their ships at the same time, so it is important that cooperation runs smoothly over the borders," concludes Stefan Joon.