On Svalbard, it is night all day long

It is really comforting to climb into the cab on Grete Aabrekk’s Volvo truck and be surrounded by warmth. She has just backed her truck into the loading point at the mouth of the Svea Mine. The conveyor belt here discharges thousands of tonnes of coal every day.

A Volvo L350 wheel loader digs down into the growing pile of coal and lifts a load onto Grete’s flat bed, which can carry 45 cubic metres – or 40 tonnes – of coal at a time. After the swift loading process, Grete drives five kilo - metres to the storage point at the quay, where the coal will stay until May. When the Global team met Grete Aabrekk, it was November and the last coal ship for the season, which was on its way to the mine, had recently been forced to turn back without completing its mission. The ice had already started to form so far out to sea that there was a risk that the ship would be caught at Svalbard for the winter. This would have been an expensive business for a panmax ship that can carry 270 tonnes on each trip.

The polar nights have already arrived at Svalbard, the most northerly inhabited part of the world. It will now be dark 24 hours a day until March. However, this does not affect activity at the mine or transport on land.

“The price of coal is currently skyrocketing again, so we must all make sure that production is in full swing the whole time,” says Grete Aabrekk, as she backs confidently up the incredibly steep slope at the storage quay and discharges her load. A bulldozer moves the whole of the new pile in a single movement. The machines and trucks that work in the dark and the ice-cold conditions are really powerful. As Grete travels back to the pick-up point, our breath is knocked out of us by the vibrations in the large vehicle and we understand exactly what workshop manager Tom Johansen means a few minutes later, when he says that worn-through electric cables are one of the most common problems in these trucks.

“It’s all the shaking,” he says. “The cables rub against one another and this can cause short circuits.” There is also a large turnover of windscreens. “There are so many flying stones when the trucks operate in shuttle traffic and meet one another on the rough roads.”

 
Grete Aabrekk's Volvo truck can carry 40 tonnes of coal at a time. At this time of the year, it is wonderful occasionally to be able to warm yourself in the cab.

He shows us the mudflaps made of strong, flexible rubber, which he has designed. “They clean themselves,” he says with a satisfied smile. “When the rubber shakes, all the dirt and muck that has gathered on the mudflaps falls off on its own.” Tom Johansen has just finished work on two brand-new Volvo FH trucks that are due to start work in the harsh winter conditions. “These are our first Euro 5 trucks,” he says.  Since 1999, LNS Spetsbergen has been the sole contractor for all transport and has also been responsible for the infrastructure at the Svea Mine. Prior to that, the Store Norske mining company did everything itself. “We now have a contract until 2020,” explains Odd Setsä, transport and site manager at LNS Spetsbergen.

“Political decisions will decide how long coal continues to be mined here in Svalbard. The raw material is high quality and it is expected to last for some time, but the discussions about the type of energy in which we should invest in the future are never ending.” For the next ten years at least, powerful Volvo trucks and construction equipment with their heavy loads of coal will continue to operate in the Polar nights and under the Midnight Sun, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.