CONTAINER & CARGO HANDLING

Port of Helsinki operator spat

11 years ago

Port of Helsinki has applied for a temporary court order against Finnlines subsidiary Finnsteve in order to force it into line with the reorganisation at Vuosaari harbour.

The Port of Helsinki wants a reorganisation to facilitate growth in Vuosaari Harbour Photo: MSC

The interim court order is two-fold. The port wants to request the right to force Finnsteve to empty certain areas of the harbour which are essential to Finnsteve’s business and operations.

It also wants to make Finnsteve provide crane services to any third party designated by the port.

The Port of Helsinki said that these measures are required to facilitate growth in Vuosaari Harbour. It said that the amount of freight traffic at Vuosaari Harbour has picked up by more than 3% during the period January to August, compared to the corresponding period in 2014.

Finnsteve said it considers the request of the Port of Helsinki profoundly groundless and that it runs contrary to the agreement put in place by the port and Finnsteve back in 2007. Port Strategy is awaiting further comment from them.

Meanwhile, the planned reorganisation will concern a harbour area of approximately 20 hectares allowing for underutilised areas to be allocated more efficiently for the needs of growing levels of transport.

It will also include moving part of the gate areas to a new location and streamlining the harbour’s internal traffic connections. Furthermore, the empty docking basin is currently being filled in to be transformed into a storage field for empty containers.

“We intend for the changes to ensure that all companies operating in the harbour have sufficient space and capacity to develop their own business operations. We have been discussing the matter with operators for a long time, and the current contracts allow for changes to be made to the intended use of areas, if the situation and operational port logistics so require”, said Jukka Kallio, director of Vuosaari Harbour.

The changes will affect the operations of all harbour operators, including Finnsteve, but the Port of Helsinki’s stance is that the changes will not weaken the service capacity of the companies operating in Vuosaari, instead they will facilitate their growth.

It wants the changes to be carried out over the course of this year and next.