Page 48 - Port of Kokkola Handbook & Directory

SHORT-SEA SERVICEKokkola’s container success sails onA regular scheduled short-sea trans-Baltic container service operating between Antwerp and Kokkola, first introduced in 2008, celebrates a decade Sof operation in 2018.household goods and clothing for the Finnish chain store group Halpa-Halli Oy use the service on a regular basis. The six-day port-to-port weekly service is now operated by X-Press Feeders, the world’s largest independent common carrier providing wide geographical coverage. With no containers of its own, the line provides only service and not competition to its customers.The service is marketed and sold in Finland by a new company called Global Freight Solutions Oy Ltd, which began operating in May 2017 from an office based in Espoo, Helsinki, to serve all the Baltic countries and strengthen operations and business ventures in Scandinavia and Northern Europe.ince then the service, which began carrying around 3,000 annual TEUs, has grown and nowX-Press Feeders charters over 110 vessels (up to post-Panamax size), of which 25 are owned by the lines. The company operates in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Caribbean, Central America and the Mediterranean. Its 2016 annual throughput was in excess of 5.6 million TEUs.Baltic Sea and northern Europe routes use vessels chartered from common-carriers MSC Finland and Hapag-Lloyd. The service travels from Kokkola to Hamburg and Antwerp via the Bay of Bothnia ports of Kemi and Oulu. The route was originally introduced to offer customers a range of integrated maritime and logistics solutions for the transfer of goodstransports over 20,000 annual TEUs – over six times more than the original service. Vessels operating the route have also more than doubled in size. Shippers of heavylift, high-value bulk products, large and small bags, plus46 PORT OF KOKKOLA HANDBOOK & DIRECTORY