In English (3.67 MB) - Finnlines

Antwerp toasts new
St. Petersburg service
Finnlines launched its new service between Bilbao, Antwerp and St. Petersburg on
September 24th and there could have been no more fitting locale for the celebration of
the great event than Antwerp Euroterminal, one of the major hubs for our parent
company, the Naples-based Grimaldi Group.
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From here, the many customers, potential
customers and members of the press who
attended the inauguration not only had the
chance to see how impressive this terminal
looks, but how well it performs. They were
able to watch MS Finnpulp, one of the three
modern, fast and efficient ro-ros that will
ply this route, as it was loaded for its next
voyage.
Newbuildings will add performance
The new service links the thriving
Russian port of st. petersburg via
antwerp to the grimaldi group’s
dense network of routings all
over the world.
Finnlines chief executive Uwe Bakosch
delivered the welcome address, along with
a presentation of the new service. As he remarked,
it will provide the only direct ro-ro
connection between Antwerp and St. Petersburg,
providing a response to the growing
needs of this most demanding of markets.
The new service also links this thriving
Russian port via Antwerp to the Grimaldi
Group’s dense network of routings to the
Mediterranean, West Africa and South
America. It is only likely to become more
efficient with time, and the expansion and
modernisation of the Finnlines fleet.
That process is already underway, with six
new vessels scheduled to join the fleet starting
this year. These newbuildings will not
only improve Finnlines’ environmental performance,
since they will replace older vessels,
but will add to its car-carrying capacity
through the use of hoistable car decks on two
levels on the main deck.