In English (3.67 MB) - Finnlines

Photos: Finnlines archive
The new service, which extends the weekly
Bilbao–Antwerp–Helsinki line to St. Petersburg,
has a transit time of seven days, leaving
Bilbao on Wednesday and arriving at its
destination at 7 am on next Wednesday.
Finnlines chief executive Uwe Bakosch
brought a high-level team of executives to
the city for the occasion, a measure of the
importance the company attaches to its Bilbao
connection.
“Our aim is to tie Russia even more
closely to our existing European
network, and to open up routes
for it worldwide via Antwerp and
the Grimaldi Group’s services to
the Mediterranean, Africa and the
Americas.”
New boost also for Bilbao port
At an inauguration ceremony at the terminal
hosted by the company along with its longserving
local agent Consignaciones Toro y
Betolaza, Bilbao port president José Ramon
de la Fuente noted that this will be the first
time that Bilbao has had a direct connection
to St. Petersburg.
He added that the new service, linking
Spain to one of the world’s most vibrant
economies, would provide a major boost for
the international development of the Basque
port, which is already recognised as the most
important on Spain’s Atlantic Coast.
Tying Russian markets to
worldwide services
Mr Bakosch reaffirmed Finnlines’ commitment
to the Russian market, which is already
expanding fast and which has massive potential
for further growth, adding that the
company would focus particularly on the
automotive, trailer and project cargo sectors.
“Our aim is to tie Russia even more closely
to our existing European network, and to
open up routes for it worldwide via Antwerp
and the Grimaldi Group’s services to the
Mediterranean, Africa and the Americas.”
The inauguration of the new service was
also attended by representatives of the
paper industry, the automotive sector, and
wider industry, as well as the region’s major
forwarders and a sizeable press delegation.
Gerardo Toro, president of Consignaciones
Toro y Betolaza, invited the guests to
inspect the terminal and follow the loading
operations on MS Finnmill prior to its departure
the following day.
New vessels to be assigned to the route
Finnlines currently operates three vessels on
the route, calling Bilbao–Antwerp–Helsinki–
St. Petersburg–Turku–Travemünde–Kotka–
Helsinki–Gothenburg. They are Finnmill and
Finnpulp, each with capacity for 3,276 lm of
rolling cargo and 1,350 lm of cars, and Birka
Trader, which has capacity for 1,690 lm of
rolling cargo.
In the near future, and provided the trade
grows as expected, Finnlines may well assign
one of its coming ro-ro newbuildings,
with the same capacity as those two larger
vessels, to this highly promising service.
Russia is not so far away any more…if you
choose Finnlines.
From left to rigth: Gerardo Toro, President
of Consignaciones Toro y Betolaza, Uwe
Bakosch, President/CEO, Finnlines Plc and
José Ramon de la Fuente Arteagabeitia,
Chairman/President of the Port of Bilbao
Authority.
From left to rigth: Luc Hens, Managing Director,
Finnlines Belgium NV, Gerardo Toro, President
of Consignaciones Toro y Betolaza, José
Ramon de la Fuente Arteagabeitia, Chairman/
President of the Port of Bilbao Authority, Uwe
Bakosch, President/CEO, Finnlines Plc and
Håkan Modig, Executive Vice President, Fleet
Management, Finnlines Plc.
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