Two is better than one
‘Two is always better than one’, has been the reasoning of the decision-makers teaming up at the ports of Vaasa and Umeå. Thus the Kvarken Ports company, a joint venture that combines two ports, was created. The cooperation was initiated in 2015 and it aims to develop the market position of the ports and port route in the Baltic Sea trade.
“We wanted to build a new kind of port and transport concept that can better respond to the transport requirements of the future. Ports located on the coasts on both sides of the Gulf of Bothnia are an important part of the east-west and north-south transport route that merges in Kvarken,”says Kvarken Ports Managing Director Teijo Seppelin.
Kvarken Ports Vaasa is an import-focused port from which road transport departs daily to destinations all across Finland. Functioning maritime routes, ports, roads, and railways create a logistic network that benefits the entire business life in the region.
“When the logistics work well, we can focus on cost-effective development. Kvarken Ports has an efficient operator that continuously invests in the development of the port. We are hoping that in the future, the improvements will lead to a direct maritime link to the Central-European industrial hubs. This would allow the ports and port route to better respond to the needs of the developing leading industry in the area. In addition, our goal is to be recognised as an environmentally-friendly port route, which is why we are striving to develop our operations to become completely independent of coal by 2025,” Seppelin says.
Seppelin is hoping for more discussion from the perspective of sustainability about the methods for transporting goods, and he urges more companies to consider transporting their goods through ports. Transport corridors are the key to more efficient logistics.
“Not everything can, obviously, be transported by sea, but those goods that can should be removed from road transport. Maritime transport provides a sustainable, reliable, and inexpensive alternative. In order to find solutions that work for everyone, we must maintain a dialogue between the operators. Kvarken Ports was created to cooperatively enhance business and trade development in the Kvarken area. By continuing our dialogue with businesses in the region we mine the potential to create even more efficient port operations,” says Seppelin.