Helsinki moves to Vuosaari
Finland’s new port Vuosaary will be put into operation before the end of this November. By that time all cargo operations will be moved from the West Harbour and the North Harbour of Helsinki to Vuosaary, from where a direct access to Ring Road III is available. The new harbour complex will be capable of handling 10 million tonnes of cargo per year with ro-ro cargo accounting for 60% and containers – for 40%.
Ro-ro port
There is a possibility to increase the port’s design capacity, which is 10 million tonnes, by two or even three times. As Kari Noroviita, Director of Vuosaari Harbour Centre, told at the port presentation, no extra construction is needed to raise the capacity: additional equipment would be sufficient to handle more containers. As for ro-ro cargo, its volume depends exclusively on the number of calls. Ro-ro operations will be moved to the new port overnight as soon as the berths are ready to accept cargo. Transfer of container operations as a longer process is to be completed by the end of December 2008.
The port will handle cargo transported in containers, trucks and trailers. Estimated traffic of trucks and trailers is 380,000 units per year while the volume of containers to be handled by the Vuosaari Harbour is 450,000 TEU per year. The harbour railway line and the road will be daily used by 10 trains and 4,000 vehicles respectively.
When the harbour is in full operation in 2009 the number of vessel calls is to reach 15-20 per day. Total length of Vuosaari container quay makes 1.5 kilometers. Besides, there are 15 ro-ro berths.
The project costs totaling EUR 680 million are born by the state and municipal budgets with EUR 380 million for the harbor itself and EUR 300 million for infrastructure.
Port operators
The existing port of Helsinki is the largest port complex of Finland. Due to its geographical location near the borders of Russia and Estonia it enjoys a number of advantages. Vuosaari Harbour project is aimed at localizing all cargo activities of the Finnish capital and at the increase of general capacity of the Finnish port complex while the wide range of services and optimal infrastructure solutions are to contribute to Vuosaari competitiveness.
There will be a number of private companies functioning in the port including three port operators: Finnsteve Oy Ab, Steveco Oy, Multi-Link Terminals Ltd Oy. They have been already provided with terminal territories under long-term agreements. “Competition is good for the harbour itself as well as for its customers and the companies providing logistical service. It is to ensure efficient operation and makes it possible for customers to choose between service providers”, Mr. Noroviita believes.
Recent years have seen a considerable growth of container traffic in the Baltic Sea, in particular due to the development of Russian economy. Annual container traffic in the Baltic Sea makes 6 million TEU with the Gulf of Finland accounting for a half of it including 0.5 million TEU handled by the port of Helsinki. Experts forecast further concentration of container traffic in the Gulf of Finland partly due to Ust-Luga development. The majority of cargo in the Gulf of Finland goes to Russian ports but Finnish terminals will also handle feeder container vessels, in particular for further transportation to Russia.
More about Vuosaary
The Harbour center occupies the territory of 250 hectares including 90 hectares of reclaimed land. A 32-kilometre fairway starting at the Helsinki lighthouse has a minimum width of 200 meters and a minimum depth of 12.5 meters, which is enough for vessels with a draught of 11.0 meters. Traffic will be in both directions except for a stretch of about 10 kilometres, which will have a meeting point for anchorage halfway. Ships less than 25 metres wide can pass each other in this stretch. Vuosaary motorways connect it directly to the Ring Road III. Harbour railways are 19-kilometer longincluding 0.6 kilometers in tunnel. The harbour centre will comprise the closed harbour area, the gate area, the logistic zone and the business park.