Riitta Björkenheim
Development Director
Vaasa Region Development Company VASEK
Finland
Anna Måtts-Fransén
Logistics Expert
Vaasa Region Development Company VASEK
Finland
Cooperation between Finland and Sweden has a long history, both official — after all we were part of Sweden for hundreds of years — and informal. Collaboration is diverse, both voluntary and structured. As regards logistics, the main forms of cooperation are NLC Ferry Oy Ab, also known as Wasaline, the joint port company Kvarken Ports, owned by the City of Vaasa and Umeå Municipality, and the collaboration through the Kvarken Council EGTC.
Since the late 40’s, there has been a transport service running to meet the transport needs for people and goods in the Baltic Sea over the Kvarken strait. Today, Wasaline transports passengers and goods across the Kvarken strait on a daily basis. This is the northernmost all-year round ferry crossing in the world. The route cuts across the Unesco world natural heritage site. The transport link bypasses 830 km of land route with a 70 km long shortcut across a narrow maritime area. The modes of the link have direct connections to existing rail, road and maritime networks on both sides of the border between Sweden and Finland. It also connects the two north-south going EU Core Corridors Scandinavian–Mediterranean and North Sea Baltic.
Wasaline’s Aurora Botnia is a great example of northern maritime know-how. The vessel is designed to be one of the most environmentally friendly, with machinery running on a dual fuel and battery solution. The RoPax ferry runs mainly on liquefied natural gas, LNG, but the vessel is also able to utilize biogas. An ongoing plan for how to implement future climate friendly fuels is important for the Kvarken connection. Moreover, the ferry terminals on both sides Kvarken have installed onshore power and charging, serving Aurora Botnia. Everything from the ferry’s design to passenger flows and customer experience takes the environmental aspects into account. The first year of operation, the emissions of carbon dioxide decreased with more than 67% per departure, compared to the old ferry.
Kvarken Ports is a joint port company for Umeå and Vaasa. The ports on both sides are preparing for a transition to climate neutral operation. The Port of Umeå is right now investing 140 MEUR to prepare the port for larger ships, multimodal capacity, handling fossil free fuels, onshore power supply (OPS) and new more environmentally friendly solutions. The same is happening in the port of Vaasa, as further steps for serving larger, more environmentally friendly ships are being taken, as well as preparations to become a future energy hub. Broadening of the fairway and extension of the main cargo quay are a continuation of the overall development plan, of circa 60 MEUR, that has already included investments in e.g. LNG terminal and OPS charging stations built in 2021–2022.
Kvarken Council is the first fully Nordic EGTC area. An EGTC can be described as a grouping within the EU, with the purpose of promoting cross-border cooperation. For the Kvarken Council, this brings about new opportunities to develop and strengthen the region with the help of cross-border cooperation projects. The long-term, and strategic, ambition to develop the east–west transport link along road E12 from Finland to the Atlantic coast in Mo i Rana, Norway has ended up in many infrastructure projects and improvements lead by the Kvarken Council through the years. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and Sweden's and Finland's application for NATO membership, the importance of this east–west connection for military mobility and supply have come into a new focus.
Both the Municipality of Umeå and City of Vaasa have set significant environmental targets. The municipality of Umeå has been appointed as one of EU’s 100 climate neutral and smart cities by 2030. Umeå has a good starting point, with low CO2 emissions, renewable electricity, and a strong commitment for collaboration towards climate neutrality. The City of Vaasa has responded to the global climate challenge by setting the goal of being a carbon neutral city in the 202X. Close cooperation with companies in the Nordic region's most important energy technology cluster EnergyVaasa is the key to achieving this objective. These companies aim to help reduce emissions globally by developing solutions for smart power grids, shipping, sustainable energy, and energy efficiency.
More to come...
At the moment, political work on the joint development strategy of the City of Vaasa and Umeå Municipality is under way. The aim is to enhance cooperation between these “neighboring cities” in the fields of transport, business, communication, culture, and sports. The strategy emphasizes the development of the transport system.
The partners on both sides of Kvarken want to be an international inspiration and forerunner of the green transition when it comes to maritime innovations and green shipping and have the function as a living lab for scalable solutions for decarbonization of the shipping sector. The goal is to be a platform that stimulates new collaborations utilizing logistics, and new environmentally friendly innovations in a creative way, as well as supports regional growth and gradually develop a completely fossil-free multimodal transport chain.
To sum it all up, a truly integrated and green shipping corridor already exists between Vaasa and Umeå, and together the two cities have the possibility to go far.