1/2012 Backman-Trummer Group Customer Publication

• Rapid growth in bulk

goods traffi c at the Port of Kokkola

• The Port of Vaasa – A key link in the

wholesale steel trade

• A new sacking machine for

Stevena in Naantali

• Kokkolan Lastaus is

now Oy Adolf Lahti Yxpila Ab

1/2012 Backman-Trummer Group Customer Publication

Backman-Trummer in brief1/2012

Dear Reader,

How many ports does Finland need to handle its international cargo transport? This

issue comes up from time to time, usually in discussions preceding decisions on fairways and winter navigation. The threat of reductions in Russian transit traffi c and the consequent release

The Port of Kokkola is experiencing a period of rapid growth. In the 2000s, the total cargo

volumes at the Port, which specialise in raw materials handling, have risen from 3 million tonnes to nearly 8 million. Kokkola is in fact the fourth largest port in Finland and the largest for bulk products. The growing transport needs of the Finnish and Russian mining industry are the major factors behind this development. The all-weather terminal completed in 2005 and a regular container transport service to Antwerp begun some three years ago have also contributed to the rise in shipments via Kokkola of highly processed timber, consumer products and the export products of SMEs.

Growth based on systematic investment

Torbjörn Witting, director of the Port of Kokkola, is pleased with the growth in cargo volume. According to Witting, growth has been supported by systematic investment. “An additional 370 metres of quay have been built during the last three years and operations at the latest expansion of the Hopeakivi harbour commenced at the beginning of this year. Lifting capacity has been increased in the last couple of years with fi ve new cranes, the largest of which has a capacity of 50 tonnes. We have also renovated transport systems and the existing cranes. At present, acquisition of two or three new cranes is planned; these would make handling of vessels of the Panamax and

Rapid growth in bulk goods traffi c at the Port of Kokkola

Torbjörn Witting, director of the Port of Kok-kola, is satisfi ed with the development of bulk goods traffi c.

of capacity that this would cause have also been raised in these discussions.

Sea transport is a diverse sector that includes liquid and dry bulk cargos, containers, unit goods, project transports, passenger traffi c, integrated industrial systems, exports/imports, incoming and outgoing fl ows of road transport and terminals. Together, these form a challenging entity for which no single model is available. A clearer picture can be obtained by viewing transport modes and cargo fl ows from an overall perspective than by focusing merely on the tonnes of cargo handled at ports.

Terms such as short sea shipping and marine highways refer to a mode of operation in which cargos are transferred from land to sea. The principal advantages of this mode are its environmental friendliness, transport security and cost effectiveness. To realize these

advantages you need to combine cargo fl ows at the earliest possible stage, ensure short road-haulage distances, and make use of intermodality and logistics centres. Reducing the number of ports will not serve the goals of this mode.

Although the Port of Vaasa does not have priority in national evaluations, according to a purely technical modelling study made for Finland’s General Industry Federation, the Vaasa Region, as the location for a logistics centre, provides the best cost effectiveness nation-wide. Short sea shipping combined with an effi cient road transport network and logistics centres are the best way to achieve the principal goals of transport, which are effi ciency, timeliness and environmental friendliness.

Sakari Mäki-Fränti

Managing DirectorOy Blomberg Stevedoring Ab

Capesize classes more effi cient,’ he points out.According to Witting, long-term, profi table

cooperation with the port operator Rauanheimo has been the main criterion for investment decisions.

“Confi dence in continued cooperation with Rauanheimo has encouraged us to make substantial investment in development of the Port. In a port like Kokkola, which works on the tool principle, stationary structures from the land to cranes, transport systems and warehouses, are the responsibility of the port authority while the operator provides the handling facilities and personnel. Here, too, cooperation with Rauanheimo has been smooth,” says Witting.

A positive outlook for the future

All kinds of raw materials are transported through the Port of Kokkola. Exports predominate and Russian transit traffi c accounts for more than one-third of the volume. The Port’s main customers include several mining companies and industrial enterprises in the mining industry processing chain. Witting sees the cargo volumes of this customer group as the source of greatest potential in the next few years.

“The Russian transit traffi c will continue to emphasize mining industry products. In Finland, the Pyhäsalmi mine has been an important customer for both us and Rauanheimo over the last twenty years and Yara Siilinjärvi has more recently been one of our largest domestic customers. Material fl ows from the Talvivaara mine also pass through Kokkola for the most part,’ he explains.

“Of course we also follow the progress of new mining projects in northern Finland,” he adds.

According to Witting, alongside the favourable outlook, growth will also pose challenges over which the Port has only limited control.

“A large part of the port’s traffi c arrives by rail, and the section of track between Kokkola and Ylivieska is one of the most congested in Finland. The volumes projected for this section require a second track, which will probably be ready in 2017. To avoid bottlenecks, it is crucial that this schedule holds or can even be accelerated,” Witting stresses.

Backman-Trummer Group Customer Publication

Editor-in-chief: Taru GammelgårdEditor: Anneli Frantzén, Impact CommunicationsLayout: Mikko Luoto, Performer

Oy Backman-Trummer Ab

Teollisuuskatu 1, 65170 VaasaP. O. Box 49, 65101 Vaasa, FinlandTel.: +358 6 323 9111Fax: +358 6 323 9150www.backman-trummer.fi

Cover: Stevena’s new sacking machine in Naantali

Backman-Trummer is a group of companies that concentrate on export and import

transport and port services. It provides its customers with tailored logistics solutions. Operations comprise road and rail transport, air freight, shipping of containers and bulk goods, and forwarding services. In addition, the group offers its customers warehousing and stevedoring services in ten ports of western Finland, from Kalajoki to Hanko and in Hamina.

Backman-Trummer’s customers are leaders in trade and industry. The group’s network of partners covers transport hubs worldwide.

Backman-Trummer is part of the KWH Group. Its subsidiaries are Oy Blomberg Stevedoring Ab, BT-Logistore Oy Ab, Oy Adolf Lahti Yxpila Ab, Ab Kristinestads Stevedoring Oy, Oy M. Rauanheimo Ab, Stevena Oy and Talavuo Oy.

1/2012Backman-Trummer Group Customer Publication

There are only a few companies in Finland that

specialise in the wholesale steel trade. Two of them operate in Seinäjoki. Esko Leppinen Oy, founded by Esko Leppinen in 1969, concentrate on the import and sale of tubes and beams. Oy Leppinen Steel Ltd., led by Esko Leppinen’s son Tommi Leppinen, concentrates on steel plate. The companies acquire their steel from European manufacturers and import most of it through the Port of Vaasa. Cooperation with the port operator Oy Blomberg Stevedoring Ab is an important element of their effi cient logistics chain.

Steel in many forms

Oy Leppinen Steel Ltd. and Esko Leppinen Oyoperate next to each other in the Teräsmäki industrial estate where they have some 25,000 sq. metres of storage space at two different premises. A new 10,000 sq. metre storage facility is also under construction. Leppinen Steel’s product range includes steel plate of various sizes and types. The product range of Esko Leppinen Oy comprises steel beams of varying thicknesses, steel tubes, and fl at, round and corner steel. The proximity of the two companies provides obvious advantages in logistics, as the suppliers and the customers are

Leppinen Steel Ltd. Oy & Esko Leppinen Oy:The Port of Vaasa – A key link in the wholesale steel trade

The companies of Tommi Leppinen (on the left) and Esko Leppinen at Teräs-mäki in Seinäjoki offer their customers a diverse selection of steel products.

A new, fully automatic sacking

machine for Stevena in Naantali

At the beginning of the year, a fully automatic sacking machine representing the latest

technology was introduced by Stevena Oy in Naantali. The Italian-made machine replaces two older machines that lacked suffi cient capacity

largely the same for both companies.

“Our extensive clientele operates in many different sectors throughout Finland and include metal and engineering companies, crane manufacturers and building contractors,” explains Tommi Leppinen. He points out that although a diverse clientele makes for a stable business, specialisation in the sector is the key to success.

“Competition in the steel trade is constantly increasing, so it’s best to focus on what you know best. In our case that’s the wholesale trade. We direct customers who need sand-

blasting, primer-coatings or some other preliminary treatment to those who specialise in these areas,” he says.

Vaasa is the key import harbour

Leppinen Steel and Esko Leppinen Oy buy entire shiploads of steel and Vaasa is usually chosen as the port of destination. Last year, for example, the companies imported 30,000 tonnes of steel through Vaasa and by the end of March of this year steel cargoes had already been unloaded from nine ships at the port. Unloading of cargoes, interim storage and reloading onto trucks is handled by Backman-Trummer’s

subsidiary Blomberg Stevedoring. Both Esko Leppinen and Tommi Leppinen are pleased with the service provided by the operator.

“Handling cargoes requires professional skill and crane capacity, as a single bundle of beams may weigh 5 tonnes and a single steel plate as much as 12 tonnes. Plates may be 12 metres in length and beams as long as 18 metres,” says Tommi Leppinen in describing the demanding nature of the operation.

“The importance of port services will grow in the future as our import volumes are clearly on the rise,” he states.

to meet increased demand for sacking services. Stevena’s employees dubbed the machine ‘Pavarotti’, which – besides the country of origin – also refers to the impressive performance of the machine.

The new sacking machine was located outside the harbour area on the premises of BT-Logistore, Stevena’s sister company. Although it can be used for sacking all kinds of bulk products, it’s being used at present mainly to sack industrial products that are packed in plastic sacks ranging in size from 5 to 40 kilos. The sacking process has also been improved with a new transport wagon in which the products to be sacked can be hauled to the sacking machine in lots of 30 tonnes. The effi ciency of the new machine is demonstrated by the fact that it takes a maximum of two hours to sack a single wagon-load. The fi lled sacks are loaded onto pallets automatically by robot. Apart from better customer service, there has also been an obvious improvement in working conditions because of the new, up-to-date facilities and automation of the hard physical phases of the work.

Stevena is one of the few companies in Finland providing commercial sacking services. In addition to Naantali, the company also has a sacking facility in Pori. A total of more than one thousand truck- or container-loads of bulk products packed in big or small sacks depart annually via Stevena’s sacking facilities. Thanks to the new sacking machine in Naantali, the volume of small sacks in particular will continue to increase.

Oy Backman-Trummer Ab

Teollisuuskatu 1, 65170 VaasaPL 49, 65101 VaasaTel.: +358 20 777 1111Fax: +358 20 777 1150www.backman-trummer.fi Forwarding and transport

Oy Blomberg Stevedoring Ab

Rahtitie 1, 65170 VaasaTel.: +358 20 777 1211Fax: +358 20 777 1231www.blomberg.fi Stevedoring and warehousing

BT-Logistore Oy Ab

Lisenssikatu 1, 21100 NaantaliTel.: +358 2 4338 310Fax: +358 2 8240 766www.bt-logistore.fi Warehousing services

Oy Adolf Lahti Yxpila Ab

Satamatullintie 5, 67900 KokkolaTel.: +358 20 777 1300Fax: +358 20 777 1320www.adolfl ahti.fi Mill services and machine rental

Ab Kristinestads Stevedoring Oy

Satama, 64100 KristiinankaupunkiTel.: +358 20 777 1281Fax: +358 20 777 1232www.kristinestadsstevedoring.fi Stevedoring and warehousing

Oy M. Rauanheimo Ab

Satamatullintie 5, 67900 KokkolaPL 254, 67101 KokkolaTel.: +358 20 777 1300Fax: +358 20 777 1320www.rauanheimo.comStevedoring and warehousing

AppointmentsOy M. Rauanheimo Ab

Jori Pyykkö, engineer, has been appointed forwarding supervisor. He previously served as supervisor at Ojala Yhtymä Oy in Sievi, Finland, and as an automation engineer and supervisor at OMB Kokkola Chemicals Oy.

Oy Blomberg

Stevedoring Ab

Captain Filip Fredriksson has been appointed Key Account Manager – Projects & Shipping at Oy Blomberg Stevedoring Ab. He worked previously in vessel chartering at Prima Shipping.

Filip Fredriksson

Jori Pyykkö

Stevena Oy

Satamatie 13, 21100 NaantaliTel.: +358 2 433 8300Fax: +358 2 433 8340www.stevena.fi Stevedoring and warehousing

Talavuo Oy

Satamatie 13, 21100 NaantaliTel.: +358 2 433 8300Fax: +358 2 433 8340Stevedoring

Vaasa Stevedoring Oy

Reininkatu 3, 65170 VaasaTel.: +358 20 777 1211www.vaasastevedoring.fi Renting of equipment and machinery

Another satisfi ed customer in the UK gets a new boat via Backman-Trummer’s short-sea link from Finland to Tillbury. Cost effective ro-ro transports of big-volume cargoes reach Tillbury in less than a week. Alternative ports are Rotterdam and Lübeck, which are also part of the ro-ro system.

Oy M. Rauanheimo Ab’s sister company Kokkolan Lastaus Oy has changed its

name and is now Oy Adolf Lahti Yxpila Ab.The story of Adolf Lahti goes back to 1927,

when Adolf Lahti of Oulu founded the ship brokering and forwarding company

Adolf Lahti & Co. together with sea captain David Eklöf of Kokkola.

Decades of service-solution development by Kokkolan Lastaus Oy is now making Adolf Lahti a company whose expertise, fl exibility and enterprising spirit will be appreciated in

Kokkolan Lastaus is now Oy Adolf Lahti Yxpila Ab

Logistics solutions since 1927

the Kokkola large industry estate and port and outside Kokkola as well.

As the company is expanding and growing its operations, a change in name to better depict its present operations was in order.