Baltic Line operates to ports in the Baltic and North Sea
In addition to its fixed weekly routes to designated ports, Baltic Line offers comprehensive possibilities for deviations along its route between Turku to Norway. The shipping company’s scheduling enables fast positioning on board for urgent project cargoes, for example.
Baltic Line has been providing liner services from the port of Turku for 40 years. Regular port destinations along its routes are managed on fixed operating days, but additional ports can be flexibly added to the master schedule.
“We have often arranged shipping to, among others, all Baltic ports, Poland, Germany, the east coast of Denmark, southern Sweden and the whole of southern and southwestern Norway. We are permanently capable of making these shifts at short notice”, says Mika Saarinen, Director of Sales and Business Development for Baltic Line.
For project transport companies, this service is a particularly attractive option. When it comes to spot shipping for cargo, the schedule is rarely known in advance for any specific date. Saarinen, on the other hand, can lay out Baltic Line’s schedule with daily accuracy for months in advance.
“This allows for the customer to get a clear framework for their production plan, transports to ports are more efficient and the customer does not have to hold up their products in vain and pay for unnecessary storage.”
Baltic Line’s customers also save on material costs compared to spot shipping, since all Baltic Line vessels have the required lashing and securing equipment for project transports.
Over the years, Baltic Line has also created a contact network for the Baltic and North Sea region with an agent in every deviation port. Co-operative partners can also handle onward transports from the ports when necessary.
Low-emission transports
Cargo transports by sea to the port that is closest to the final destination decrease the cost of onward transports and facilitate the acquisition of transport permits. Furthermore, choosing maritime transport is always an environmental act compared to the high emission figures of road transportation.
“We have also invested in greener operations by acquiring, among other things, electric forklifts for loading and unloading. Baltic Line’s Odda Marie features two mechanical Econowind sails. If the port can offer shore power, our vessels have the capacity to utilise it”, Saarinen says.
Finland’s best closing time in Turku
MV Baltic Amelie and Baltic Madonna visit on alternating weeks in the port of Turku, where Baltic Line also has an office. Through the office window, Saarinen can see when ships are mooring.
“Turku is a versatile port, with comprehensive services for cargo handling and terminal capacity. The fairways are usually open for almost the entire winter. Turku is also ideally located so as to be highly accessible from everywhere.”
Saarinen describes the whole of Finland as Baltic Line’s hinterland.
According to this Director of Sales and Business Development, Turku has the best, or shortest, closing time in Finland. Closing time refers to the moment when the cargo must be in the port in order to make it onto a ship.
“When challenges have arisen, the Port of Turku has been able to react appropriately and find a constructive solution.”
Text: Sari Järvinen
Photos: Baltic Line, Port of Turku Ltd / Piia Leino
Baltic Line AS
- Weekly route traffic from Turku via the Baltic countries to Norway and back.
- Exports include, for example, steel, metal, products from the mechanical forestry industry, chemicals and feed. Project transports for almost anything other than bulk.
- Transports approx. 400,000 tons per year.
- Headquartered in Stavanger, Norway.
- Owned by the DSD family company, which has been operating in the transportation sector for more than 170 years.
