No congestion on the Baltic Sea

The route connecting Finland with Germany is one of the busiest on the Baltic Sea. It is a true motorway of the seas with an unlimited number of lanes. Without this efficient sea lane there would be some 800 more heavy vehicles on the transit roads each day.

Of course all types of merchant ships are represented on the Baltic Sea, but surprisingly many of them are container or ro-ro vessels employed in liner traffic. A considerable number of them carry high-value general cargo in trailers or trucks between Finland and the German ports of Lübeck/Travemünde and Rostock.

The Baltic Sea is one of the hottest growth areas for seaborne trade, attracting ship owners and liner operators from all over Europe. But there is nothing new under the sun. Seaborne trade along the Baltic Sea has existed for thousands of years. Similar freight patterns to those of today already existed in the Middle Ages, when the Hanseatic League ruled the Baltic Sea.

But the medieval Hanseatic cogs and the large ro-ro and ro-pax vessels of our time have nothing else in common than that they sailed the same routes. The largest ro-pax vessels of today carry up to 4,200 lane metres of cargo, corresponding to some 270 trailer slots, while a cog from the 14th century could carry some 150 tons of cargo – roughly the same as three lorries.

Employing the largest vessels on the Baltic Sea, the ro-ro traffic between Finland and Germany is a dominating feature in short sea transports in that area. Even if the volume of cargo shipped in containers is increasing all the time, the trailers and trucks still account for the greatest potential in the shipments of general cargo between Finland and Germany.

Speaking in general terms, the container is the main cargo unit in shipments from and to Finland where a transoceanic leg is included. But in short sea shipments between Finland and the central part of the Continent, road vehicles have turned out to be the most flexible and optimal cargo units.

“We see that the container is coming in the European traffic too, but so far it is mostly on services to destinations on the North Sea”, confirms Staffan Herlin, Senior Vice President at Finnlines Plc. “The shorter the distances in sea transport, the more cargo is carried by road vehicles,” he adds.

The total market for shipments of trucks and trailers between Finland and Germany reached almost 300,000 units last year, which means that the market has grown by 7 to 8 per cent compared to the previous year.

The bulk of the cargo carried on ro-ro vessels between Finland and Germany is directly related to Finnish exports and imports. There is also a fair amount of transit volumes to Russia moving on these ships, but its share by no means dominates.

Booming import
Mr Herlin emphasises that the Russian market is like a catalyst, making the Baltic Sea an attractive market.

“There are now more operators and much stronger competition involved in the traffic on the Baltic Sea than before the fall of the Soviet Union. Back in the 1980s the cargo flows were quite thin in the North Eastern part of the Baltic Sea”.

A telling example is the booming import of new cars to Russia, bringing many new operators and vessels to the area.

Finland’s entrance into the EU in 1995 has also had a strong impact on the growth of the freight traffic to and from Finland.

“Finnlines’ liner traffic to Finland is definitely based on the Finnish economy rather than the Russian”, mr Herlin states.

High frequency
The bulk of the road traffic between Finland and Germany is nowadays carried on ships across the Baltic Sea. There are only marginal volumes moving by road via Denmark and Sweden.

The main operators of unitised cargo shipments on the Finland–Germany route are Finnlines, Transfennica and Tallink. These provide several sailings with ro-ro vessels each day on the ancient “Hansa Route” between Finland and the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck and Rostock.

The shipments from Rauma, Hamina and Kotka are to a great extent built upon the export of the Finnish forest industry and include a lot of paper carried sto-ro or ro-ro southwards. The trailer and truck traffic is concentrated to Helsinki, Turku and Hanko.

Finnlines has for example located its unitised traffic to Helsinki and Turku, including a daily ro-pax service from Helsinki to Travemünde. Transfennica has a considerable part of its German trailer shipments located to Hanko and maintains daily sailings with ro-ro vessels to Lübeck.

“On our Hanko–Lübeck service about 30 per cent of the cargo consists of conventionally handled forest products, while the rest is mainly trailers, but also containers”, informs Executive Deputy Chairman Rolf G W Eriksson at Transfennica Ltd.

	Trailers being loaded on one of Transfennica’s ro-ro vessels in Hanko. Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Most trailers
The general trend with logistic chains getting more and more efficient is also reflected in the traffic between Finland and Germany. The number of trucks with accompanying drivers is increasing, but still most of the road vehicles carried on the Finland–Germany liner services are trailers. It is estimated that a little more than 50,000 trucks with drivers were carried on ships between Finland and Germany last year.

“The trucks that we carry with accompanying drivers are mostly employed in special traffic with high-value cargo in a logistic chain, where fast transports are important”, informs mr Herlin.

Before launching the fast service between Helsinki and Travemünde with the new ro-pax vessels of Finnstar-class, the now Tallink owned Superfast had a dominating position on the market regarding trucks with accompanying drivers. With a crossing time of 36 hours, Finnlines’ chances to gain any stronger foothold in this market were not too great, but now the situation is different. With a fast schedule and sufficient accommodation for drivers, the Finnstar class of vessels has increased the number of trucks and drivers in Finnlines’ traffic on the Hansa route.

Tallink Superfast has recently moved its daily ro-pax service with three Superfast vessels from Hanko to Helsinki, while Rostock remains as the port of destination in Germany.

“Trucks with accompanying drivers account for a considerable part of the vehicles carried, but also trailer shipments are important”, states Cargo Director Markku Onniselkä at Tallink Superfast.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström

Latest update 24-01-2007 7:52

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