The idea to develop a freight terminal at Kopstad came to Lars Hellik Strøm as early as 2006. Lars H. Strøm is the general manager of freight transport for the country's truckload terminals. In 2006, the terminals in Drammen were planned for urban development and he saw that the need for a new wagon load terminal on the west side of the Oslofjord was urgent. He got a good dialogue with the Norwegian railway authorithy in 2008 and a zoning plan for the area at Kopstad, was adopted in 2012. Agreements were also made with the Norwegian railway authorithy regarding the disposal of masses as well as a promise of a high-capacity branch from the Vestfold Railway. Here you will find letters from the Norwegian railway authorithy in 2012/2013. This provided a good basis for starting the development of the land area. An agreement was also established with the Norwegian recycling company, to fill the area with stone and inert materials in order to fill up plots ready for construction. You can read more on the activities page, here. 

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The project has always had broad local, regional, political and national support. The Norwegian parliaments treatment of the National Transport Plan shows a majority in favor of the investment, the plan can be read here. The development of the area will mean regional growth and social development as well as ensuring increased transport by rail and will form part of the so-called Jutland Corridor. The freight terminal will also be able to relieve the Alnabru terminal in Oslo. The location of the area also makes it possible to think about transport between several modes of transport such as car, boat and rail. The ports in both Horten and Holmestrand are not far away and an automatic ferry between Moss and Horten will strengthen this investment.

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In 2019, a separate board was established for Kopstad Godsterminalutvikling. The board decided rather quickly to change the name of the project to Oslofjord Logistikk AS, because it was obvious that this would not only become a freight terminal, but has the potential to become a logistics center for railway-related business not only in freight transport, but also in service, operation of railways as well as handling different types of waste as well as recycling and processing. The response to this has been overwhelmingly positive.

 

In 2023, a revised zoning plan for the area was necessary, partly due to a new branch from the new Vestfold Railway as well as a new connection to the E-18 (zoning plan for a new dual carriageway adopted in 2022 can be found here). The area is therefore currently regulated as a freight terminal/logistics center which also contains service functions for railways (see more under activities). Development of the area will provide the opportunity for a significant number of new jobs and could provide a significant transfer of goods on the way to the railway, which provides major socio-economic benefits (cf. Socioeconomic analysis from 2022). 

 

The project aims to have the first construction stage of the area built by 2026/27. The entire area is expected to be completed by mid - 2030 - 35.

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The timeline for historical activities/decisions can be read from the figure below, as well as what is planned for the next few years.