Finnlines - Grimaldi Group

Russian engagement
sia for 15 years, starting with the launch of
the TransRussiaExpress service between kiel
and St. Petersburg.
Today, the size and promise of the Russian
economy might suggest that launching
a dedicated Russia service is a fairly obvious
move for a company in our region, but it was
not always thus. Indeed, TRE ran into trouble
early as the Russian economy hit the rocks
and volumes shrivelled.
Thankfully, we had the courage of our convictions
and persevered, rebuilding our service
to the market as the economy recovered,
and then investing further in new routes and
vessels.
Today, TRE operates with the modern Hansa
class ro-paxes for a combined capacity of
6,400 lm and 250 passengers every week.
but it is far from being the only service we
operate into Russia.
As part of the grimaldi group, we are able
to offer our Russian clients not just routes
around the ports of the baltic Sea and North
Europe, but access to a vast network of ser-
vices to southern Europe and the mediterranean,
Africa and the Americas.
our Russian routings have expanded correspondingly.
From St. Petersburg, Finnlines
offers a weekly service to Zeebrugge, bilbao,
Antwerp, Hull and Immingham. we operate
six ro-ro vessels into the Russian city twice a
week from this area and the number of vessels
exceed already 10 with a further growth
potential through 2012 from other directions.
In February, our sister company Atlantic
container line also announced that it would
be accessing St. Petersburg, running cargo
from the uS East coast to Antwerp where
it will connect with Finnlines’ service to
St. Petersburg, kotka and Helsinki.
last month, we also launched a brand
new ro-ro service connecting grimaldi’s port
in wallhamn to ustluga, 150 km south of St
Petersburg. Such is our confidence in this
new routing that we have deployed one of
our brand new chinese newbuilds on the
service, with capacity for 3,200 lm of rolling
cargo and 600 cars.
Russia is also a market we believe will
continue to grow fast as the local transport
infrastructure improves. In ust-luga, good
road and rail connections will allow us access
to moscow and far beyond. In St. Petersburg,
the completion of the bronka ro-ro
and container terminal, scheduled for 2015,
will take the pressure off the existing port
facilities and allow for significant increases
in volumes going forward.
we at Finnlines continue to believe strongly
in the Russian growth story. our strategy is
based on clear-eyed analysis and bold investment
and we are not to be deterred when the
storm rages. In the years ahead, we expect to
grow hand-in-hand with our Russian clients.
Uwe Bakosch
President and CEO
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