Publication date: 07/10/2024
Johan, thank you for this interview. First of all, could you introduce us the port of Svinninge Marina?
To help readers understand what makes Svinninge Marina so special, we first need to explain how Swedish marinas usually operate. Here in Sweden, there are two main categories of marinas. Firstly, there are the community marinas, then the so-called “full-service marinas“:
- Association marinas are run, as the name suggests, by the members of a yacht-owners’ association. In this configuration, they manage the entire operation and maintenance of the facilities themselves. Associative marinas offer total autonomy to boaters, but also require a considerable investment.
- Full-service marinas are privately managed. They are often staffed by professionals, and offer turnkey boat accommodation. They are more expensive, but can also accommodate larger boats. A major disadvantage is that a certain amount of work is often impossible within the harbour, and the intervention of service providers from outside the marina may be forbidden…
As for Svinninge Marina, it has a unique positioning: when it was built in 1984, the former owners chose to take the best of both models!
As a result, Svinninge Marina’s harbour infrastructures are maintained without requiring the intervention of boaters, while offering users a high degree of autonomy. When it comes to maintenance and repairs, they can carry out work on their boats themselves, or call in outside service providers.
Today, you’re Director of Svinninge Marina. What is your experience with this marina?
I started work at Svinninge Marina on September 1st, 2020. I was recruited by the previous owners, Julius Hefte and Eva Enarsson, as Harbour Master. My mission was to supervise the dock crew and the handling schedule, while also steering the marina’s new environmental projects (see below).
It was also agreed that I would gradually step into the harbour master’s office, with the aim of taking over from Eva, who would soon be retiring. For several years, I worked with the owners on contract management, relations with port professionals and the supervision of reception staff.
Finally, when Svinninge Marina was taken over by the Port Adhoc group, I accepted the position of Director.
How many boats can Svinninge Marina accommodate? What are the weight and length limits?
Svinninge Marina is one of Sweden’s largest marinas. We offer 1,200 berths for boats afloat and 700 for boats ashore. When the boats are taken out of the water, owners can choose between indoor and outdoor storage.
The boats most frequently accommodated in our marina are between 35 and 45 feet in length – or 10 to 13 meters, mainly monohulls. In terms of port capacity, we can accommodate vessels up to 82 feet – or 25 meters – afloat.
The handling facilities available on site enable us to handle ashore boats up to 20 tonnes.
How and why is Svinninge Marina different from other marinas in the region?
Svinninge Marina offers major advantages in terms of accessibility: it’s just a 30-minute drive from Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Boaters can therefore easily reach it from all major European cities.
The marina’s location at the entrance to the Stockholm archipelago – one of Sweden’s most beautiful sailing basins – is excellent, enabling boaters to enjoy exceptional sailing very quickly.
➡️ Read also:
Sailing on Sweden’s east coast: what do you need to know?
Secondly, at Svinninge Marina, the marina has been designed with the comfort of boaters in mind. Compared to the way the site is used, the marina can accommodate many more boats on land. But we have chosen to space the boats out, so that users can launch their boats at any time of year. This arrangement also allows them to come aboard and work on their vessel whenever they wish.
This is a real advantage at Svinninge Marina, when most marinas in Sweden store as many boats as possible on dry land, in the interests of profitability!
Last but not least, our harbour also offers a number of special facilities that contribute to the quality of the services we provide to our sailors.
What facilities does Svinninge Marina offer?
They have been developed and installed at Svinninge Marina to enable boaters to enjoy boating in comfort, while minimizing the impact on the sea and the environment.
Among the facilities on offer, we would like to mention three key features installed in the marina area:
An environmentally-friendly sandblasting workshop
In the past, as in the majority of marinas in Sweden, the harbour’s boaters sanded their antifouling directly outside, in the open air. This unfortunately led to contamination of the surrounding soil, a phenomenon we were determined to correct here at Svinninge Marina.
So we designed and installed a sandblasting workshop at Svinninge Marina, enabling maintenance work to be carried out in an environmentally-friendly way. It’s one of the first of its kind in Sweden, and boaters often come from far and wide to take advantage of it!
An eco-friendly mini wastewater treatment plant
The “mini purification station” – a wastewater collection and treatment station in the handling area – is another of the remarkable innovations implemented by the teams. It treats boat wash water on the Svinninge Marina site to produce high-quality water. The water is then returned to the basin, with no negative impact on the environment.
Easy access to grey and black water pumps
Finally, Svinninge Marina has 3 grey and black water pumps at the end of 3 pontoons. These installations are quite rare in Swedish harbours, as they are relatively complex to install and maintain.
A few public pumps are available in the Stockholm archipelago, but they are generally in poor condition and, unfortunately, often break down. As a result, many outside boaters visit the harbour with the aim of using these facilities at Svinninge Marina!
Overall, the port is ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to environmental issues. In fact, managers from other Swedish marinas often visit our teams to learn from the innovations we’ve introduced.
Do you offer activities and services to boaters as an extension of Svinninge Marina?
At Svinninge Marina, and in Swedish marinas in general, services and entertainment are managed by the various yachting associations. There are many of them, offering a wide range of activities.
Membership of an association sometimes offers access to certain privileged areas. This is the case, for example, for the island of Sandön, just a few nautical miles from the marina, which is only accessible to members of the Svinninge Marina Klubbholme (SMK). At Sandön, they can enjoy a number of exclusive facilities and activities: a barbecue, children’s games, a clubhouse with books, self-service drinks and ice creams… and even a sauna!
What are the port’s plans for the months and years ahead?
The arrival of Svinninge Marina within the Port Adhoc network does not change the vocation of our marina. Our primary role will continue to be to ensure the continuity of our services. Ongoing projects and investments are continuing, notably the creation of a slipway which will soon be available to boaters.
Another major project is the renewal of the pontoons. This work will take place over several years, during which the port’s old wooden pontoons will gradually be replaced by highly resistant floating concrete pontoons. This new, easy-to-maintain material will allow water to run off through grids, preventing it from stagnating on the pontoons.
➡️ Read also:
New pontoons at Lelystad Haven
Finally, Svinninge Marina will see the installation of the new YouNav management software, to further optimize use of the marina by all boaters. With connected equipment and intelligent interfaces, users will enjoy a host of new benefits.
Among them, access to the wifi network, better access control, dematerialization of their contract, an online customer and payment area… but also fairer billing.
➡️ Read also:
Smart terminals in Port Adhoc marinas
Are you a boat owner looking for more information about Svinninge Marina, just a stone’s throw from Stockholm? Contact our agents now!
