The Port of Helsinki to discontinue charging wastewater fees
Starting next year, the Port of Helsinki will no longer charge a wastewater fee for wastewater left by ships in the port sewer system. This change is a continuation of the Port of Helsinki's efforts to reduce loading in the Baltic Sea. Wastewater fees were discontinued for international cruise ships on a trial basis in the summer of 2008 and the trial will now become standard practice for all vessels.
In the summer of 2007, the mayors of Helsinki and Turku committed themselves to saving the Baltic Sea and presented a challenge to hundreds of other actors for improvement to the state of the sea. The measures presented in the commitment concerning the Baltic Sea initiative aim at reducing the pollutant loading of the water body caused by the activities of the cities. One of the goals in the City of Helsinki's action plan is to reduce the environmental impact of ship traffic.
This summer's trial with the discontinuation of the wastewater fee for cruise ships yielded good results. A total of 26 cruise ships pumped their wastewater into the port's sewer system. As a result, the wastewater volumes pumped from cruise ships more than tripled (over 32,000 m3). Passenger ships in scheduled traffic already pump their wastewater into the port's sewer system while in port. In 2007, the volume of wastewater pumped from those ships totalled 250, 000 m3.
The website of the Baltic Sea Challenge can be found at www.balticseachallenge.net
Relocation to Vuosaari nearing completion
The last cranes of Multi-Link Terminals Ltd Oy will be moved from West Harbour's Saukonlaituri Quay to Vuosaari's Quay D. MLT's Liebherr container gantry CS 2 will arrive at Vuosaari at the end of week 50 and container gantry
LN2 made by Kone Cranes Oyj during week 51.
The last containers and the rest of the equipment will be moved from their present harbours to Vuosaari Harbour by mid-January 2009. Container cranes LN1, LN3, LN4 and LN6 in West Harbour and crane SN6 at Sompasaari, which have been sold to the Port of Sillamäe in Estonia, will be transported on barges to their destination by the end of May 2009.
Translandia and Superfast vessels to move to Vuosaari Harbour
Eckerö Line's cargo vessel M/S Translandia will operate between Vuosaari Harbour and Tallinn starting on 2 January 2009. Eckerö Line's passenger ship M/S Nordlandia will continue to operate from West Terminal to Tallinn.
Tallink Silja's Superfast passenger ships will be relocated to sail from Vuosaari's Hansa Terminal starting on 13 January 2009. The Superfast vessels will sail from Helsinki to Rostock, Germany, four times a week.
New quays for cruise traffic
With cargo port operations ending at West Harbour, the Melkinlaituri and Valtamerilaituri quays are free to be used for the needs of cruise ship traffic.
The waterlines at the quays will be readjusted and a sewage system will be built for pumping ships' grey wastewater. There are preliminary plans for some 22 cruise ship visits at the Valtamerilaituri and Melkinlaituri quays in the summer of 2009. The transfer of these quays to use by cruise ships creates considerable additional capacity and a competitive advantage in order to attract mega-class cruise liners to Helsinki.
Rail demolition to start at West Harbour in January
Train traffic at North Harbour will be discontinued at the end of this year and at West Harbour at the end of January 2009. Rail demolition will start in January from West Harbour's Hietasaarenkuja Street and continue to other rail sections at West Harbour. After this comes the demolition of rails at North Harbour. The total length of the railway to be demolished is approximately 20 km, including some 28,000 railway sleepers. The demolition will be completed over the course of 2009.