Sunday at Narvik terminal

This morning, I watched as iron ore poured into hold number three. There was no dust or dirt, nothing grimy or messy, but more like dark water, a black river streaming down. Beautiful in its own way.

Because it is Sunday, there is no point going into town. Everything is closed, so the day’s entertainment is here at the terminal. And it is a fascinating spectacle: modern, clean, and astonishingly efficient.

Photo by Vadim Morozov on Unsplash

It reminded me of a visit to Helsinki earlier this year, when I wandered into the new Central Library. The architecture alone is worth the trip, but what impressed me most was the way the space encouraged community, learning, and creativity. Children ran around a play area on the third floor, multiple groups of students worked together in a designated area, older people read quietly, and visitors roamed freely. There were special allotted spaces for recording music, woodworking, giving a big band concert (which is what happened when we were there), playing chess, learning as a child how to play Mindcraft, and eating and drinking.  Walking in, I thought, this is what the future of libraries could be.

Standing here in Narvik, I had a similar thought. The third officer’s expression said it too, the admiration she felt for the way this port has modernized the complicated dance of docking and loading. No heavy lines thrown ashore, no men scrambling with ropes. Instead, a vacuum system fixes the ship exactly in place. When it is time to leave, the vacuum releases, and with tugboats guiding us through the channel, we simply drift away.

After doing a bit of research, I learned that Narvik’s terminal rests on twelve underground silos, each about 60 metres deep and 38 metres across. Trains roll straight into a tunnel and tip their loads directly into them. Belt conveyors then carry the ore to screening stations and onward to the ship loaders at the quay. I picture a hidden cathedral of silos beneath the harbour, everything moving with precision.

Norway and Finland seem to have figured out how they want the future to look. I only wish I could get a tour of the terminal. Perhaps I will ask the captain if that is possible. For now, I will just keep watching the black river pour into the hold.