Editorial:

The Baltic perspective

Some 90 million people live in the regions around the Baltic Sea. The area includes two metropolises: St Petersburg and Berlin and environs, both with about five million inhabitants.

The countries have a considerable difference in GNP per capita. The economies in the former Eastern block nations are growing rapidly, even if there is still a long and hard way to go before the level of the Western countries is reached. Consequently, the cost of labour varies radically within this relatively small geographic area.

All nations around the Baltic Sea have a strong industrial production. All sorts of things are manufactured: chemicals, food stuffs, machinery, metals, forest products, electronics, cars and many other categories of goods. Some of the countries export raw materials and most of them import other raw materials needed for the industrial processing.

A chapter of its own is the trade with solid and liquid fuel within the area: Among the Baltic Sea-nations there are both large producers and large consumers of coal and oil.

Ever since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the development of the Russian trade has been a key issue in the prognoses for the future cargo flows on the Baltic Sea. Despite the fact that so far only a minority of the inhabitants in the huge Russia have a somewhat high standard of living, the consumption has grown fast. In many Baltic ports the traffic has been boosted by cargo heading for Russia. The growing Russian import of all kinds of consumer goods is mainly noticed in the container traffic.

Another booming activity is the Russian import of new and second-hand cars.
Also, a lot of people are transported on the Baltic Sea. There are of course many regular ferry links, but also a steadily increasing market for cruises. If it were not for the climate, the Baltic Sea would no doubt be as attractive for cruising as the Mediterranean. Now it is overrun on the volume market due to the short summer.
However, the Baltic Sea has a growth potential within the cruise business. Within short distances there are several remarkable Hanseatic cities and also unique archipelagos. Perhaps the cruise operators will soon find their way also to the smaller and more “exotic” destinations in the Baltic?

In the Baltic Sea region most of the international cargo transports are handled with ships. There are all types of merchant ships plying the waves of the Baltic – bulk carriers, tankers, ro-ro-vessels, ferries, container ships, reefers, general cargo vessels, car carriers and barges. A dense traffic also generates problems. The marine environment is very sensitive and there is for example a growing concern about the rapidly increasing oil shipments.

International co-operation in safety and environmental matters is of utmost importance. Since we do not live in a protected reserve it would be plain stupid to believe that we can totally eliminate all risks with our safety measures, no matter how necessary and good they are. When an accident occurs where human lives or the environment are seriously threatened, it is much better to be well prepared – also mentally.

There are many issues, which make shipping on the Baltic Sea exceptionally demanding. For vessels with extreme draught the water is in many places too shallow and there are also narrow passages where the vessel traffic is extremely busy. In several of these areas there are not yet any traffic separation zones. The creation of such zones should be given highest priority.

In the northernmost parts of the Baltic Sea there is heavy ice every winter. Traffic in these waters demands ice-strengthened vessels, which are more expensive to build than non-strengthened ones and which cannot compete with cheap tonnage under low-cost flags.

It is important that the owners, who by building ice-strengthened vessels ensure a continuous cargo flow to and from the northern ports, are not driven out of competition. The cargo owners have a responsibility to employ high-standard vessels all the year round, instead of choosing short-sighted easy ways by employing the cheapest possible tonnage during the ice-free season.

It is especially crucial for Finland to maintain the owners’ motivation to build expensive ice-strengthened vessels. Today the fairway dues “reward” owners of ice-strengthened tonnage by lower tariffs, but it is uncertain how this will be in the future. It is easy for anyone to sail on the Baltic Sea in the summer, but when the winter comes with darkness and cold weather it is a completely different story.

Pär-Henrik Sjöström, Editor