1/2009 Backman-Trummer Group Customer Publication

• Stevena is Scandlines’ partner in Hanko

• Russian transit traffi c continues to grow

in Kokkola

• SCA Transforest and Backman-Trummer

A decade of cooperation

• A new look for Rauanheimo

1/2009 Backman-Trummer Group Customer Publication

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: Loading trailers in Hanko

1/2009

Dear Reader Since ports are the hubs of goods traffi c, they feel the

impact of economic downturns and upturns immediately. This is especially so here in Finland, where most exports and imports are transported by sea. Statistics for the beginning of this year on goods traffi c at Finnish ports do in fact show a considerable de-cline on last year. The drop was particularly evident at ports where forest industry products account for most of the traffi c. The smaller harbours that handle a variety of different cargoes have fared best. There are also sectors such as food products and energy produc-tion where annual fl uctuations are not very big.

Ports have traditionally adjust-ed to fl uctuations in the volume of work. Harbour activity varies with the seasons of the year, the

seasons for various products and even from one weekday to another. A few decades ago harbours were sometimes shut down entirely for the winter due to ice.

Since ports and port operators have virtually no infl uence on vol-umes, they are often left with one alternative - to adjust costs to less cargo. News of layoffs and redun-dancies has appeared throughout the winter and spring. Although the situation has in fact changed in recent years, and traffi c has become more regular, port opera-tors are well aware of the special features of the sector. Winters for Blomberg Stevedoring, as for the other Backman-Trummer Group companies, are more challenging than the other seasons. A better picture of statistics and trends for this year will not be available un-til the coming summer.

At present, uncertain markets hamper decision-making. Never-theless, the knowledge that sooner or later better times will come helps us to see things in the proper perspective. Blomberg Stevedoring will continue its efforts to improve quality and effi ciency. Diverse competence, fl exibility and service capacity are the keys to develop-ment work of this kind. Improve-ment of the logistics chain together with customers benefi ts both par-ties and helps us to confront the coming upturn from a position of greater strength.

Sakari Mäki-Fränti

Managing DirectorBlomberg Stevedoring Oyb

Russian transit traffi c continues to grow in Kokkola

The international economic cri-sis sent transit traffi c through

Kokkola into a sharp decline at the end of last year. The rapid downturn continued until the end of March. Now traffi c has picked up again signifi cantly.

Transit shipments from Rus-sia consist mainly of iron ore pel-lets from SeverStal, a large steel and mining company. The ore is hauled by train via the border crossing at Vartius to the Port of Kokkola, where it is then loaded onto ships of the Panamax class and transported to the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, the US and China. Eastbound transit ship-ments to Russia consist of enriched aluminium clay for the aluminium company Rusal. The goods arrive in Kokkola from for example Jamaica and Ireland, and are transported further to Rus-sian industry by rail. Rauanheimo Logistics in Kokkola plans and coordinates the transports in Fin-land and also handles stevedoring services at the port. The logistics

chain is managed in close cooper-ation with the Finnish State Rail-way, and the Port of Kokkola.

Sergei V. Starodubtsev, head of sales, marketing, and logistics for SeverStal Resources, also consid-ers his company’s logistics solu-tion a successful one for the fu-ture. ”The geographic proximity of the Port of Kokkola and Sever-Stal’s iron ore unit combined with Rauanheimo’s competitive pric-ing and high standard of service enable strategic cooperation with the Port. Thanks to the partners in the logistics chain, including the State Railways of Finland and Russia, we will be able to increase deliveries of iron ore pellets to our export customers. Good relations between the parties involved of-fer excellent prospects for further cooperation,” he says.

Transit traffi c accounts for more than 40 per cent of the total volume of cargo handled in the Port of Kokkola. Last year Rauan-heimo, which is responsible for general cargo operations in the

Port, handled a volume of 4.4 mil-lion tonnes; this year the volume is expected to be nearly 6 million. Most of the increase is Russian transit traffi c, which will account for about one half of the total vol-ume of cargo.

Effi cient logistics services, a deep harbour with a 13-metre draft fairway, fast 40-tonne shore

Unloading Russian wagons. Pasi Salminen, Rauanheimo’s operative ma-

nager, and Tanja Smirnov-Palosaari, sales manager for Russian transit.

cranes and a side tippler suit-able for unloading Russian open wagons are excellent for develop-ment of cooperation with custom-ers. The all-weather terminal in the main harbour, which protects handling of general cargo from the harshest weather conditions, has also aroused great interest in Russia.

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

port and port services. It provides its customers with tailored logistics solutions. Operations com-prise 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 eleven

Backman-Trummer in Brief

ports of western Finland, from Kalajoki to Hanko. Backman-Trummer’s customers are leaders in trade and industry. Its network of partners covers transport hubs worldwide.

Backman-Trummer is part of the KWH Group. Its subsidiaries are Oy Blomberg Stevedoring Ab, Ab Kristinestads Stevedoring Oy, Oy M. Rauanheimo Ab, and Stevena Oy.

1/2009Backman-Trummer Group Customer Publication

In November 2007, the German company

Scandlines GmbH be-gan a scheduled ro-ro service from Hanko, Finland, to Rostock, Germany. The ship-ping company provides four weekly departures with the ro-ro vessels MV Mercant and MV Aurora. The cargo con-sists mainly of trailers, although cars and other freight are carried as well. Scandlines’ part-ner in Hanko is Stevena Oy, which is responsible for un-loading and reloading the ships, and also for securing cargoes and inspecting the trailers for damage.

Cargo volumes on the rise

Cargo on the new line includes products of the forest, machin-ery and metal industries. Cargo arriving in Hanko continues to

Stevena is Scandlines’ partner in ro-ro services to Rostock

other destinations in Finland by truck, while further connections in Germany are largely handled with intermodal transport by lift-ing the trailers onto railway car-riages. The volume of cargo on the line has been growing steadily. Michael Berger, head of freight at Scandlines, is pleased with the present mode of operations. ”The route between Rostock and Hanko has developed in a very positive

manner. The professional and ex-tremely reliable service provided by our Finnish partner Stevena in Hanko plays a large role in ensur-ing customer satisfaction and the success of the route. Long-term stabilisation and expansion of this line will in fact be one of the pri-orities for Scandlines,” he explains and continues “of course the glo-bal crisis has hit Finland, too – nevertheless we are convinced that the present slight decrease will be overcome within a short while.”

Trailers and cars

Backman-Trummer’s subsidi-ary Stevena Oy operates in sev-en ports of western Finland. In Hanko operations started in 2004. Demand for Stevena’s services in Hanko has grown steadily in recent years. In addition to hand-ling of trailers, Stevena unloads new cars from ships in Hanko. Last year the number of cars, most of which are destined for Rus-sia, amounted to nearly 130,000,

which is equivalent to the number of new cars sold annually in Fin-land. Stevena’s operations on site are handled at the moment by a staff of 20, who also have equip-ment suited to heavy-duty trans-port at their disposal. In fact, a part of Stevena’s activities in Hanko consists of warehousing of project deliveries in a tempera-ture-controlled warehouse that is optimal for such kind of cargo.

Scandlines GmbH is one of Europe’s largest ferry transport companies. The company operates eight routes with 17 vessels be-tween 11 ports on the Baltic Sea. Its priority lies on the transpor-tation of passengers, cars, trucks and trailers and – on some routes – railway wagons between Den-mark, Germany and Sweden, to Lithuania and Finland. Around 17.3 million passengers, 3.6 mil-lion vehicles, 1.1 million trail-ers and 84,000 railway cars were transported on Scandlines’ sched-uled routes in 2008.

Oy M. Rauanheimo Ab’s communications are getting a new look. From now on, more

emphasis will be put on the company’s entire service offering and expertise in both internal and external corporate communication. Ver-bally, this change is crystallised in a promise to customers: ’For good stories’. These English words are strongly symbolic. ’Good’ refers to success, but also to the wide range of Rauan-heimo’s services and mastery of the logistics for various types of goods. ‘Stories’ conveys a com-mitment and an ability to see things from the customer perspective. In addition to the promise to customers, the word ‘Logistics’ has now been incorporated in the company name.

According to Managing Director Joakim Laxåback, the need for this change became ap-parent as Rauanheimo’s operations expanded to the entire logistics chain.

”We are developing and extending our serv-ices to meet the needs of changing markets and we are also evolving from a harbour operator into a provider of the entire range of logistics services,” he says.

According to Laxåback, ’For good stories’ is an accurate description of Rauanheimo’s operat-ing principle.

”Our goal is that every single commission provides added value to the customer and thus

becomes a suc-cess story for their business,” he points out.

The new look will continue to be part of Rauanheimo’s

internal and external communications. In addi-tion to the customer promise and name change, it covers the image world of communication and also the other visual elements in both electronic and printed material. Rauanheimo’s new look is being implemented by Imageneering Oy, an ad-vertising agency based in Tampere, Finland.

A new look for Rauanheimo

The terminal network of SCA Transforest AB, a transport and logistics company of

the forestry and forest product company SCA Group, includes Umeå and Sundsvall, Sweden; Tilbury, UK; Rotterdam, Holland; and Lübeck, Germany. The company also buys terminal services from other companies through long-term agreements. Associated terminals of this kind are located in Skövde, Sweden; Hull, UK; Dublin, Ireland; Lisbon, Portugal; Livorno, Italy; Philadelphia, USA; and in Vaasa, Fin-land, where Oy Backman-Trummer Ab is Transforest’s partner.

Backman-Trummer has handled Transfor-est’s terminal operations since 1999. Like all Transforest’s other associated terminals, the Vaasa terminal has facilities and equipment for storage and for distribution to end customers situated in its area. In addition to Finland, the Vaasa terminal is also responsible for distribu-tion to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Special features common for all the termi-nals in the network are uniform working prac-tices and the SCOPE/WMS data system for monitoring logistics and storage events. The terminals in Vaasa and Skövde offer also a 24-hour service; products are delivered to custom-

Terminal Manager Urban Häggkvist

is responsible for terminals in Vaasa,

Umeå, Skövde, Lisbon and Livorno.

SCA Transforest and Backman-Trummer A decade of cooperation

ers within 24 hours of order placement with SCA in Sweden.

Tranforest Shipping is engaged in world-wide chartering and primarily handles forest industry products commissioned by SCA. Its annual volumes amount to around two million tonnes. Half of this is transported on Trans-forest Shipping’s own ro-ro vessels, which operate on the North Sea between terminals in Sweden, London, and Rotterdam. Volumes destined for the German market are handled in cooperation with M-Real via Lübeck. Each terminal is served twice a week on a regular basis. Thanks to this system, SCA Transfor-est is able to offer frequent regular transport to Scandinavia in a north-south direction.

During their many years of cooperation, Backman-Trummer and SCA Transforest have developed for customers various logistics so-lutions with which products from Sweden and elsewhere in Europe are delivered by SCA’s vessels to Finland, Russia, and the Baltic coun-tries. Likewise, this system enables transport of Finnish and transit goods from Finland via the SCA network to European destinations and other points served by SCA’s fl ow of goods.

Oy Backman-Trummer AbTeollisuuskatu 1, 65170 Vaasa, FinlandP.O.Box 49, 65101 Vaasa, FinlandTel.: +358 6 3239 111Fax: +358 6 3239 150www.backman-trummer.fi Forwarding and transport

Oy Blomberg Stevedoring AbRahtitie 1, 65170 Vaasa, FinlandTel.: +358 6 3239 211Fax: +358 6 3239 231www.blomberg.fi Stevedoring and warehousing

Oy M. Rauanheimo AbSatamatullintie 5, 67900 Kokkola, FinlandP.O.Box 254, 67101 Kokkola, FinlandTel.: +358 6 8265 300Fax: +358 6 8265 320www.rauanheimo.comStevedoring and warehousing

Stevena OySatamatie 13, 21100 Naantali, FinlandTel.: +358 2 433 8300Fax: +358 2 433 8340www.stevena.fi Stevedoring and warehousing

Ab Kristinestads Stevedoring OyHarbour, 64100 Kristiinankaupunki, FinlandTel.: +358 6 221 1196Fax: +358 6 221 1331www.kristinestadsstevedoring.fi Stevedoring and warehousing

Vaasa Stevedoring OyReininkatu 3, 65170 Vaasa, FinlandTel.: +358 6 3239 211Fax: +358 6 3239 224Renting of equipment and machinery