Port operators: There’s plenty of expertise, equipment and space

According to Kimmo Iljin, Managing Director of TurkuSteve, the port of Turku has many advantages regarding steel transports:

“Turku has the equipment needed for the handling of steel, and there are many experienced professionals of the field. Turku has enough both outdoor and indoor storage space. The port is not too crowded. Goods move forward conveniently.”

He points out that the good road and rail connections ensure fast and efficient hinterland connections, and the freight costs remain reasonable.

TurkuSteve has invested in equipment

Mr Iljin says that TurkuSteve made already over ten years ago a decision to invest in stevedoring equipment and machinery suited to the handling of steel. The company understood the port’s potential in steel logistics.

“Since then we have invested heavily in lifting equipment and machinery every year. Our lifting equipment ranges from 10-tonne booms to 50-tonne X-lifts. We have Mafi trailers, terminal tractors, forklift trucks and telescopic handlers. The harbour cranes in the port of Turku are owned by our company, and during the past three years we have performed basic improvements on them. We have also trained new crane operators, and we now have seven of them.”

TurkuSteve has at its disposal, for example, two large warehouses where railway carriages can be unloaded indoors.
TurkuSteve handles both export and import loading for Baltic Line AS’s liner services, project loading of SSAB’s steel products, and the unloading of import ships of steel suppliers from Germany and the Netherlands.

Things get done on ro-ro vessels as well

Teppo Heikkilä, Operative Manager of Finnsteve, also lists ample outdoor and indoor storage space, suitable equipment, expertise of personnel, and short turnaround time as the strengths of the port of Turku.

Finnsteve handles, for example, the unloading of ro-ro vessels of Mann Lines and Finnlines.

“Ro-ro vessels are loaded and unloaded during one eight-hour shift. The work gets done quickly and with certainty. Stevedores, terminal tractor drivers and signal men are experienced professionals who master their work with perfection”, he says.

Economics of suitable size

Janne Salonen, Sales and Customer Manager of Stevena, agrees with his colleagues.

“There is always a berth available in Turku, and the fairway depth is mostly sufficient. The road connections are also good, and furthermore Highway 8 will be improved in the future.”

The operators sum up that one important factor explaining the functioning steel logistics in Turku is the economics of suitable size.

“Port of Turku has all the necessary facilities, and the port is just right-sized for flexible handling and transporting of steel”, Mr Heikkilä from Finnsteve says.

Text: Matti Välimäki
Photos: Markku Koivumäki, Ilari Välimäki