The Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Ville Skinnari, has stressed the importance for Nordic cooperation of the rail link between Finland and China.
The minister said according to the Finnish national media, Yle. that the Norwegian and Swedish industries are interested in cooperating in logistics with Finland.
“This cooperation has now been prepared. They want to deliver products by rail to China and Russia, and now we have this channel for fast delivery of products by train to China.”
Noting that it is strategically important that Nordic countries “see the transportation alternatives together,” said Skinnari, “when it comes to speed when traveling east, Finland is the solution.”
He said the trains are important, especially for sophisticated products that need to be transported quickly.
Jukka Holsa, Vice President Logistics at UPM Forest Products Company, informed the Finnish media that UPM is interested in the development of the railway line that connects Kouvola with China. He said UPM had used the track a few times and everything went according to plan.
“Our expectations and demands were met,” he said.
A freight terminal is currently being built in Kouvola to be able to handle the loading and unloading of trains longer than one kilometer. The city has announced that the terminal will serve connections to both China and Russia.
In addition to Kouvola, container rail freight transport from Finland to China is handled by the logistics company John Nurminen in Vuosaari, Helsinki.
