In English (3.67 MB) - Finnlines

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news /11 a Grimaldi Group Company 1 Connecting the World BOSTON NEW YORK BALTIMORE PORTSMOUTH JACKSONVILLE HALIFAX LIVERPOOL BRISTOL CORK SOUTHAMPTON HULL IMMINGHAM TILBURY LE HAVRE VALENCIA LISBON SETUBAL CASABLANCA ANTWERP BILBAO FOS SASSNITZ LÜBECK TRAVEMÜNDE HAMBURG AMSTERDAM AARHUS SAVONA LIVORNO CIVITAVECCHIA SALERNO PALERMO MARSEILLE TUNIS TRIPOLI MALMÖ WALLHAMN GOTHENBURG KAPELLSKÄR MALTA RAUMA NAANTALI TURKU HELSINKI KOTKA GDYNIA ST. PETERSBURG VENTSPILS PIRAEUS YENIKOV GEMLIK IZMIR MERSIN LATTAKIA TARTOUS BEIRUT ALEXANDRIA ASHDOD LIMASSOL DAKAR BANJUL CONACRY FREETOWN MONROVIA TAKORADI TEMA LOME SAN PEDRO ABIDJAN COTONOU LAGOS DOUALA LIBREVILLE POINTE NOIRE LUANDA SALVADOR VITORIA RIO DE JANEIRO SANTOS PARANAGUA RIO GRANDE MONTEVIDEO ZARATE BUENOS AIRES LOBITO BOMA >> New Ports >> New Routes >> New Vessels

news

/11

a Grimaldi Group Company 1

Connecting

the World

BOSTON

NEW YORK

BALTIMORE

PORTSMOUTH

JACKSONVILLE

HALIFAX

LIVERPOOL

BRISTOL

CORK

SOUTHAMPTON

HULL

IMMINGHAM

TILBURY

LE HAVRE

VALENCIA

LISBON

SETUBAL

CASABLANCA

ANTWERP

BILBAO

FOS

SASSNITZ

LÜBECK

TRAVEMÜNDE

HAMBURG

AMSTERDAM

AARHUS

SAVONA

LIVORNO

CIVITAVECCHIA

SALERNO

PALERMO

MARSEILLE

TUNIS

TRIPOLI

MALMÖ

WALLHAMN

GOTHENBURG

KAPELLSKÄR

MALTA

RAUMA

NAANTALI

TURKU

HELSINKI

KOTKA

GDYNIA

ST. PETERSBURG

VENTSPILS

PIRAEUS

YENIKOV

GEMLIK

IZMIR

MERSIN

LATTAKIA

TARTOUS

BEIRUT

ALEXANDRIA ASHDOD

LIMASSOL

DAKAR

BANJUL

CONACRY

FREETOWN

MONROVIA

TAKORADI

TEMA

LOME

SAN PEDRO

ABIDJAN

COTONOU

LAGOS

DOUALA

LIBREVILLE

POINTE NOIRE

LUANDA

SALVADOR

VITORIA

RIO DE JANEIRO

SANTOS

PARANAGUA

RIO GRANDE

MONTEVIDEO

ZARATE

BUENOS AIRES

LOBITO

BOMA

>> New Ports

>> New Routes

>> New Vessels

Editorial

Contents

Modern, international and profitable 2

Antwerp toasts new service 4

Bilbao shares the celebrations 6

Ambassador visits the

Finland Terminal 8

Welcome to the new Fin

Modern, internat

Finnlines UK – St. Petersburg

service up and running 9

A ship springs to life on the Yangtze 10

TransRussiaExpress 12

Agents & Schedules 13

Issue 1/2011

Editor in Chief:

Leena Manner

news

Graphic Designer: Graafinen suunnittelu Oy Peippo

Printed by: Euraprint Oy

Published by:

Printed in Finland

Circulation: 25,000 copies

Finnlines Plc,

Porkkalankatu 20 A

FI 00180 Helsinki

www.finnlines.com

press@finnlines.com

Serving the Finnish market has always been at the heart of our mission at

Finnlines. That is as true today as it was when the company was founded

more than 60 years ago, witness the new connections that we have added

through Helsinki over recent months, and the big new ships now sailing on

routes to and from our native city.

But if Finnlines is still attached to the warmth of home, it also has a spirit

of adventure that dates back to its beginnings in 1947, when it started life

running ships between Finland and the US East Coast. That wanderlust is

still in the company’s blood.

Over the last year, we have struck out determinedly into new territories,

adding state-of-the-art new ships to new services and routes that have

taken us far beyond our traditional markets in the Baltic Sea.

What is more, we have taken advantage of the extensive network developed

by our parent company, the Naples-based Grimaldi Group, to offer our

customers access to far-flung destinations in the Mediterranean, Africa and

the Americas. In the process, we are catapaulting the name of Finnlines,

and that of Finland, around the world.

As you will read in this edition of Finnlines News, the latest addition to

our growing network is the innovative new service linking Bilbao, Antwerp,

Helsinki and St. Petersburg. Three vessels are currently employed on the

nlines!

ional and towards profitability

Emanuel Sparring

seven-day service, but capacity is likely to rise as state-of-the-art new

vessels currently on order begin joining the fleet in 2011.

Our desire further to expand this service reflects our belief in the

immense potential of the Russia trade, and in our ability to serve it

with the efficiency and flexibility required to speed its development.

Over the last two years, we have added steadily to our portfolio

on routes into St. Petersburg, launching a direct weekly connection

with Helsinki in 2009, and this year increasing capacity on the northern

route into the Russian city and adding calls into Ventspils and

Sassnitz. We also debuted a new “Central Line” service from Hull and

Immingham via Helsinki to St. Petersburg.

All this expansion is not just about cargo. After long years of inattention,

our passenger business is now a focus for sustained investment,

and these service enhancements open up new possibilities for

passengers travelling between Germany, Latvia and Russia.

The strength and reach of the Grimaldi Group, meanwhile, allows

us to open up ever-wider possibilities for our customers in the region.

By knitting together seamless connections with ACL into the

United States, for instance, or with Grimaldi’s Euromed service into

the Mediterranean, we are able to carry cargo efficiently into new

markets, enhancing our customers’ sales prospects at a particularly

challenging time for all of us.

Investing in a downturn is never an easy choice, but it is often the

right one. Since the crisis hit in 2008, we have worked to reorganise

our internal structure, rationalise our fleet, and rebalance our service

network. But we have also invested, in new ships and new services,

in a bid to enhance our offering to our customers.

That approach is now paying off. As the recovery inches closer,

a new Finnlines is emerging that is a modern, efficient, responsive

to its customers’ needs and, of course,

moving fast towards profitability. After

a year of struggle, we turned the corner

in the second quarter and firmly

expect to generate solid earnings

for 2010. Heartened by our progress

over the last year, we can now look

forward to 2011 with confidence.

Uwe Bakosch, CEO

Antwerp toasts new

St. Petersburg service

Finnlines launched its new service between Bilbao, Antwerp and St. Petersburg on

September 24th and there could have been no more fitting locale for the celebration of

the great event than Antwerp Euroterminal, one of the major hubs for our parent

company, the Naples-based Grimaldi Group.

4

From here, the many customers, potential

customers and members of the press who

attended the inauguration not only had the

chance to see how impressive this terminal

looks, but how well it performs. They were

able to watch MS Finnpulp, one of the three

modern, fast and efficient ro-ros that will

ply this route, as it was loaded for its next

voyage.

Newbuildings will add performance

The new service links the thriving

Russian port of st. petersburg via

antwerp to the grimaldi group’s

dense network of routings all

over the world.

Finnlines chief executive Uwe Bakosch

delivered the welcome address, along with

a presentation of the new service. As he remarked,

it will provide the only direct ro-ro

connection between Antwerp and St. Petersburg,

providing a response to the growing

needs of this most demanding of markets.

The new service also links this thriving

Russian port via Antwerp to the Grimaldi

Group’s dense network of routings to the

Mediterranean, West Africa and South

America. It is only likely to become more

efficient with time, and the expansion and

modernisation of the Finnlines fleet.

That process is already underway, with six

new vessels scheduled to join the fleet starting

this year. These newbuildings will not

only improve Finnlines’ environmental performance,

since they will replace older vessels,

but will add to its car-carrying capacity

through the use of hoistable car decks on two

levels on the main deck.

Finnlines

From left to rigth: Håkan Modig, Executive Vice President, Fleet Management,

Finnlines Plc, Lars Andersson, Master, Brian Rolfe, Managing Director,

Finnlines UK Ltd and Jeroen Brauns, VCK Amsterdam.

Uwe Bakosch, President/CEO,

Finnlines Plc.

Accessibility of port to be

improved in Antwerp

The service will provide a boost for Finnlines,

adding capacity and providing an alternative

route for the burgeoning Russia trade, so enhancing

customer satisfaction. But it should

also be a boon for Antwerp as the port authority’s

commercial director, Luc Arnouts,

told the multitude assembled for the inauguration.

He stressed the importance of developing

the Left Bank of the port, where Finnlines and

Grimaldi vessels currently call. Continuing

development work in this area will soon see

the installation of a new sea-lock designed

to improve access and ease the problem of

congestion at the Kallo lock, the Left Bank’s

one access route.

Bolstering trade to and from Russia

Evgeny Baranovskiy, consul general of

the Russian Federation, also extended his

congratulations to Finnlines on the launch of

the new line, which he said renews a historic

link between Antwerp and St. Petersburg. He

added that the service should significantly

bolster trade between Russia and Belgium,

and between Russia and the rest of Europe

and beyond.

There was time for further evidence of

the Grimaldi Group’s strong presence in Antwerp,

with the guests able to follow the arrival

of another of its ships at the end of the

day. The concensus appeared to be that with

this latest addition to its network of services

through St. Petersburg, Finnlines has another

hit on its hands.

Bilbao shares the

celebrations for Finnlines’

new Russia link

The launch of the new Bilbao-Antwerp–St. Petersburg service was cause for heartfelt

celebration in the port of Bilbao, at the industrial heart of the Basque Country.

Photos: Finnlines archive

The new service, which extends the weekly

Bilbao–Antwerp–Helsinki line to St. Petersburg,

has a transit time of seven days, leaving

Bilbao on Wednesday and arriving at its

destination at 7 am on next Wednesday.

Finnlines chief executive Uwe Bakosch

brought a high-level team of executives to

the city for the occasion, a measure of the

importance the company attaches to its Bilbao

connection.

“Our aim is to tie Russia even more

closely to our existing European

network, and to open up routes

for it worldwide via Antwerp and

the Grimaldi Group’s services to

the Mediterranean, Africa and the

Americas.”

New boost also for Bilbao port

At an inauguration ceremony at the terminal

hosted by the company along with its longserving

local agent Consignaciones Toro y

Betolaza, Bilbao port president José Ramon

de la Fuente noted that this will be the first

time that Bilbao has had a direct connection

to St. Petersburg.

He added that the new service, linking

Spain to one of the world’s most vibrant

economies, would provide a major boost for

the international development of the Basque

port, which is already recognised as the most

important on Spain’s Atlantic Coast.

Tying Russian markets to

worldwide services

Mr Bakosch reaffirmed Finnlines’ commitment

to the Russian market, which is already

expanding fast and which has massive potential

for further growth, adding that the

company would focus particularly on the

automotive, trailer and project cargo sectors.

“Our aim is to tie Russia even more closely

to our existing European network, and to

open up routes for it worldwide via Antwerp

and the Grimaldi Group’s services to the

Mediterranean, Africa and the Americas.”

The inauguration of the new service was

also attended by representatives of the

paper industry, the automotive sector, and

wider industry, as well as the region’s major

forwarders and a sizeable press delegation.

Gerardo Toro, president of Consignaciones

Toro y Betolaza, invited the guests to

inspect the terminal and follow the loading

operations on MS Finnmill prior to its departure

the following day.

New vessels to be assigned to the route

Finnlines currently operates three vessels on

the route, calling Bilbao–Antwerp–Helsinki–

St. Petersburg–Turku–Travemünde–Kotka–

Helsinki–Gothenburg. They are Finnmill and

Finnpulp, each with capacity for 3,276 lm of

rolling cargo and 1,350 lm of cars, and Birka

Trader, which has capacity for 1,690 lm of

rolling cargo.

In the near future, and provided the trade

grows as expected, Finnlines may well assign

one of its coming ro-ro newbuildings,

with the same capacity as those two larger

vessels, to this highly promising service.

Russia is not so far away any more…if you

choose Finnlines.

From left to rigth: Gerardo Toro, President

of Consignaciones Toro y Betolaza, Uwe

Bakosch, President/CEO, Finnlines Plc and

José Ramon de la Fuente Arteagabeitia,

Chairman/President of the Port of Bilbao

Authority.

From left to rigth: Luc Hens, Managing Director,

Finnlines Belgium NV, Gerardo Toro, President

of Consignaciones Toro y Betolaza, José

Ramon de la Fuente Arteagabeitia, Chairman/

President of the Port of Bilbao Authority, Uwe

Bakosch, President/CEO, Finnlines Plc and

Håkan Modig, Executive Vice President, Fleet

Management, Finnlines Plc.

Finnish Ambassador to the

UK visits the Finland Terminal

On Monday 22nd November, His Excellency

Mr Pekka Huhtaniemi, the Finnish

Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s,

visited the Finland Terminal in Hull.

The Ambassador, who is keen to follow the

development of Finnish business in the UK,

is also interested, like many other Finns, in

history. During the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries, two million emigrants

from the Baltic States passed through Hull

on their way to Liverpool before embarking

for Canada and United States of America.

Some 430,000 of these were Finns.

The Ambassador concluded his visit on

Tuesday by boarding the Finnlines MS Birka

Trader in Immingham.

From left to rigth: Brian Rolfe, Managing Director, Finnlines UK

Ltd, Pekka Huhtaniemi, Finnish Ambassador to the court of St.

James’s, Matt Jukes, ABP, Hull Port Director

Keith Anderson

From left to rigth: Håkan Modig, Executive Vice President, Fleet Management, Finnlines Plc, David

Gemmel OBE, Lord Mayor and Admiral of the Humber, Uwe Bakosch, President/CEO, Finnlines Plc,

Brian Rolfe, Managing Director, Finnlines UK Ltd

Finnlines UK

– St. Petersburg service up and running

A reception to mark the inauguration of a

direct service from the port of Hull to St.

Petersburg in Russia was held at the Finland

Terminal on 23rd November.

This route is particularly pertinent as the

City of Hull has a long-term connection with

St. Petersburg through Sir Henry Samman

(1850–1928) who was a local ship-owner and

broker. He traded with the Baltic States and

eventually formed an Educational Trust that

still offers bursaries for students to study

business and language in St. Petersburg.

The President and CEO of the Finnlines

Group, Mr Uwe Bakosch, gave a presentation

to the guests on the current Finnlines business

strategy. The Lord Mayor and Admiral of

the Humber, Councillor David Gemmell OBE,

and the Hull Port Director, Mr Matt Jukes of

Associated British Ports, both gave responses.

The event was very well received by our

customers, many of whom have expressed

a positive interest in the new service. With

a 5-day transit time, this direct service has

already shown cargo growth week on week.

Mongolia

Yangtze river

Beijing

Yellow

Sea

Himalayas

China

Nanjing

Shanghai

East

China

Sea

India

Burma

Vietnam

Hong

Kong

Taiwan

South China Sea

A ship springs to life

on the mighty Yangtze

Building an oceangoing ship is a complex task, requiring skilled design, meticulous

planning, and the man-hours of a small army of craftsmen over many months.

As the ship nears completion, it is also, increasingly,

an emotional undertaking and

that was certainly the case for the officers

and crew of the Finnlines newbuilding

Finnbreeze as the vessel took shape at a yard

in China’s Jiangsu province.

Meticulous testing prior to sea trials

As its chief engineer, Emanuel Sparring, reports,

this is now an immense industrial area

through which passes the mighty Yangtze

River, its banks teeming with shipyards and

terminals.

Sparring had travelled from the lush provinces

of southern China to join the ship as it

prepared for its sea trials. It had just been

moved from its birthplace in the Nanjing

shipyard to another facility down-river for a

final coat of paint.

Emanuel Sparring

The Finnlines newbuilding Finnbreeze is being prepared for its sea trials. For this it was moved from Nanjing down the river also for a

final coat of paint.

As Sparring says: “Even though the final

paint-job is just a small part of the complex

process of building a ship, it still gives you

the feeling that she is alive and ready for

the sea.”

The days following his arrival and prior to

those all-important sea-trials were taken up

testing and re-testing the myriad parts and

systems on-board before the vessel could be

commissioned. “Every little detail has to be

tested and approved,” he says, “from lifeboats

and radars to mess-rooms and cabins.”

Creative minds find solutions

When the big day finally arrived, reaching

the ship proved to be easier said than done.

Heavy fog shut down the bridge over the

Yangtze and delayed the crew’s arrival at the

yard. And when they finally made it through,

they discovered that the ship had been

banked alongside two immense and decrepit

bulk carriers that they had to pick their way

across in order to access Finnbreeze.

Reaching the sea-trial area was also a

challenge, with large vessels unable to sail

the river at night, wisely so given how dense

the traffic is and how poorly lit, and the decks

of the ship teeming with shipyard personnel

who had to be fed and accommodated. Indeed,

Sparring reports that so many were on

board that the crew had to turn the outside

container deck into a food court.

“these ships will deliver the performance

expected and perhaps

even more. with all the technology

upgrades built into these

vessels they will be an interesting

challenge to operate.”

The sea trials exceeding all expectations

Thankfully, the sea-trials went exactly as

planned. Says Sparring: “After all kinds of

performance tests, we started to feel secure

that these ships will deliver the performance

expected and perhaps even more. The machinery

control systems and bridge systems

are a significant upgrade on the older, sister

ships, and with all the technology built into

these vessels they will be an interesting

challenge to operate.”

Finnbreeze will have the Yangtze River as

her home for a few months more before Sparring

and his fellow crewmembers are able to

sail her away. He, for one, is already looking

forward to it. As he says: “Ships have souls,

as all seafarers know, and it could be that

she will always remember her first manouveurs

in these muddy waters. Hopefully, too,

she will come to appreciate her new home in

the clean, cold waters of the Baltic.

TransRussiaExpress (TRE)

the rock in the surf for sustainability of utmost

reliability for Russia for so many years

Building a successful shipping business is about having the foresight to identify an opportunity,

and the confidence to stand by your belief through good times and bad. In the Baltic, there is

surely no better example of this maxim at work than Finnlines’ TransRussiaExpress (TRE) service.

MS Translubeca in Kiel before the service was moved to Lübeck in 2002 & MS Transrussia serving the route Kiel-St. Petersburg

Photos: Finnlines archive

TRE was an immediate hit with its customers

when it was launched as a direct ro-ro liner

service between Kiel and St. Petersburg in

February 1997. Fourteen years on, it has developed

into a thriving business, with modern

ships carrying cargo and an increasing

number of passengers on a growing network

of routings.

12

Bumpy road to success

The years since the inauguration of the service

were not always easy, however. Indeed, it

has been a slightly bumpy road from there to

here, and it has required determination and

self-belief to get this far.

When TRE’s journey began, though, it was

all downhill. The service debuted with two

old Russian quarter-ramp ro-ros with capacity

of 950 lane metres, and developed so fast

that it was soon operating up to five ships

with a total weekly capacity of 4,750 lm in

both directions.

The first bump in the road came in August,

1998, when Russia’s economic collapse saw

volumes in what had been a profitable service

plunge 75 per cent almost overnight. Finnlines

and its then-partner TransLog (former BTS)

kept the service running nonetheless, even if

with only two ships, and slowly the market

recovered.

By 2000, they were investing again. The

next-generation ro-pax Translubeca, with

capacity for 1,750 lm of rolling cargo and

84 passengers, was deployed on the route

alongside the older 950 lm Transrussia. The

addition of other Finnlines ships and chartered

tonnage later boosted capacity to

6,750 lm per week, while in 2002 the service

was moved from Kiel to Lübeck.

New vessels and ports of call added

The global economic crisis that hit home in

late 2008, however, delivered another blow

to the service, with cargo volumes dropping

abruptly by 70 per cent, this at a

time when the Naplesbased

Grimaldi Group

had just taken over

Finnlines.

Undaunted, the new

owners continued to invest

in developing the

service. Since then, it has moved towards a

full ro-pax service with the addition in February,

2009, of the Transeuropa, with its capacity

for 3,200 lm and 124 passengers. The

service has grown steadily over the last two

years, and is now served by three vessels:

Transeuropa and its sister ship Transrussia,

formerly Finnhansa, and the smaller Translubeca,

for a total of 8,000 lm per week.

The service, which also calls at Sassnitz,

has been expanded recently, with two

weekly calls at the Latvian port of Ventspils

added in August. It is now fully booked sailing

eastbound and fast picking up volumes

westbound, with shipments of paper from

Kotka to Lübeck and trucks out of Ventspils

both contributing healthy volumes. The 332

passenger places on the service have also

spurred growth on that side of the business.

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