NEWSLETTER
September 2013
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR www.midnordictc.net
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- Final conference and report
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NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
2/13
To adapt and move on...Have we actually don Project manager resuming the project and it´s achievements. Read the entire summary report at www.midnordictc.net. We can’t fight the future, resistance is futile. Things will change, new discoveries, new technique, new innovations, and new cooperation. This will happen whether we want it, accept it or not.
it really should be questioned in its very basic foundation. This goes pretty much for all development with one exception and that’s security and safety. When it comes to save human life’s the matter has a fast track of its own…
THE BIGGER PICTURE… In what ways do we want to develop our current situation?
“Generally, it is not the change in itself causing problems; it is how we handle the change that causes problems” [Per-Åke Hultstedt].
There are some simple questions you all can ask when it comes to need of development:
Following that thought we need to adapt and move on. It’s the only way. It’s the basic rule of survival. So through history humanity, societies have been in a constant mode of change in order to survive. The success factor has been and will always be the ability adapt to new conditions and new environments.
- What is the problem? What is the current situation? What can be done about it? Who will be affected? Who do we need to cooperate with? When do we need it to be done? The right way, from our point of view, is to start with the larger picture and break it down to smaller parts. It’s like building a house. You need to start with making drawings of the whole building before you start to build in order to ensure that everything fits and everything is meeting expected standard. Doing things the other way around you’ll never be able to ensure the final result.
IS THERE A NEED OF NEW PROJECTS…? To be able to answer that we first need to answer the following five questions… • Do we accept the fact that we need to continue to be in a constant mode of change? • Do we accept that things around us will continue to change regardless what we do? • Do we want to some extension be able to influence the future? • Do we accept the fact that we can’t solve things alone? • Do we accept that the success factor is to cooperate with others?
This can somewhat also be applied looking at the future need of development. Important is to start in the right end with the larger picture and then break it down to smaller areas of development and then to projects…all fitting the bigger picture.
These five questions indicate the level of survival instincts. Do we want to be a part of the future or do we just accept things as they are…?
There is neither right nor wrong… There is no way of saying what everyone should or shouldn’t do. It all depends of the situation and level of survival instincts. The only thing that is for sure is that the world around us is a constant mode of change. If we however want to be a part of the change we need to look at our own future. In the project we have stated that all things need to be evaluated on four different levels. • Locally, Regionally, Nationally and Internationally. If the suggested change doesn’t apply and get a YES on all levels
Author Per-Åke Hultstedt, Project Manager of NECL II -project, Leadpartner County Administrative Board of Västernorrland. per-ake.hultstedt(at)lansstyrelsen.se, tel. +46 70 190 4195.
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
3/13
ne anything significant?
Final conference was held, but the work The final conference of NECL II -project was held in Sundsvall during 21-22 August. Ca 60 participants heard presentations related to the development of east-west communications and green transports. Many of the participating organizations expressed their interest to join possible future activities also, but the work must first be analysed. Several speakers stated that Midnordic route could be competitive, fully-working and become a part of multimodal transport corridor Europe - Asia, but only under certain conditions. The Russian import markets are the most potential for the corridor (food, machinery, and chemical exports). Unfortunately the partly electrified railway network along the corridor is a hinder for economic train transports and there are still development needs. The sulphur limits give benefits for the Midnordic route - but how long will the advantage last?And how will the companies in the region survive the costs of the sulphur directive?
The corridor´s potential was discussed from various points of views: Russian, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian guest speakers estimated the future possibilities and needs. The railway system along the corridor is not sufficient at the moment and a great deal of transportation could be transferred from road to rail and water. Border crossing especially between Finland and Russia can be improved. Functioning connections are still needed, between Finland and Sweden, but also between Sweden and Norway. A couple of companies located on the corridor gave also their perspectives on future transports, and the business life is even more essential part of possible future development work of the Midnordic corridor. Therefore it is positive that also the Baltic Sea Region -programme 2014-2020 is planning to allow private partners/companies to take part in future projects. All conference presentations are on our website. See also: http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/mittnytt/ gods-ska-ge-guld
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
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NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
4/13
for developing east-west communication Interviewing some of conference guests: 1. The project is now ending - feelings, what has happened..? 2. What are the most important things the project has done and accomplished? 3. What is the future like for the Midnordic Green Transport Corridor? 4. Would you be interested to join a possible next project and what would be the main issues?
Kenth Nilsson, Mats Olofsson & Helena Olsson, Swedish Transport Authorities & Vectura: 1. There has been a lot of activities in the project during three short years, and during the work a lot of new contacts have been created. We have even learned about intercultural communication and culture. 2. The market potential of the corridor is now more clearyfied, and we have shown what kind of actions must be taken in order to make the corridor fully-functioning. Cooperation is essential, and putting the corridor into an international context. 3. We should first analyse the outcomes of NECL II -project, list out the pros and cons, the benefits and the meaning of the corridor to the actual end-users, the companies. 4. The Swedish Transport Authorities are definitely interested in joining the next possible phase, it is essential to work in a long-term perspective.
Arne Braut, member of Midnordic Committe, County Council South-Tröndelag, Norway 1. It has been an interesting project that has helped to define the potentials of our east-west corridor and underlined the importance of strengthening the infrastructure to exploit this. 2. Defining the most important bottlenecks and missing links in the corridor. The project contributed to get the electrification of Meråker Line into the Norwegian National Transportplan. 3 & 4. We must take the concrete results and plans from NECL II into use and action. The cooperation must continue, in order to get investmentdecisions in the future. By these conditions, I believe that both private and public Norwegian operators would be interested to join the next phase.
Arnfinn Monsen, member of Midnordic Committe, County Council North-Tröndelag, Norway 1. I have personnally now a more clearified picture of the critical points on the Midnordic Green Transport Corridor. In Norway we could have perhaps done a better job in spreading the information about the project/corridor. 2 & 3. The project has been pointing out the most important targets of investments and has been a part of several positive changes along the corridor, for example the border crossing development into Russia and the electrification of Meråker Line.
4. Norwegian politicians should absolutely be part of possible future actions, especially in order to put pressure for the new logistics centre in Trondheim. Photo on and from the left: Sidsel Bryne an Manager Per-Åke Hultstedt from Västernorrla
In the photo, from the left: Helena Olsson, Mats Olofsson and Kenth Nilsson.
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
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NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
5/13
ns must continue Seppo Rinta-Hoiska, Consulting Officer, Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia, Finland 1. The project partners were eager and active in their cooperation. A lot of good suggestions were made on how to improve the business environment in our region. Now we also know that Sweden is well ahead of Finland when it comes to transport systems and logistic services for the companies. 2. Here in South Ostrobothnia the local and key companies within food industries formed an active cooperation during the project. Also other companies are interested, as the demand of combined transports grows especially on rail and something concrete must happen soon. Green transports in EU is a prerequisite for large food and export companies in order to improve the cost-effectiviness and development of new High Tech -companies. 3. Logistics and transport is one of the three fastest growing segments. Seinäjoki region is expected to generate 600 new jobs in the sector in addition to existing 1800 jobs, if the concept prepared in NECL II -project will be realized. 4. The above mentioned group of companies will ensure that the development continues. Also public actors, like the University of Vaasa and the Seinäjoki Region Business Service Center are important, but the essential question is Where and how to find such cofinancing structure which will endure the cooperation?
Photos above: guest speakers Olof Nyberg, from Sundfrakt and Sergei Katikov, adviser for the President of Russian Geographical Society.
nd Arnfinn Monsen, from North-Tröndelag County, Project and and Arne Braut from South-Tröndelag.
Photo above, from the left: Jerker Johnson and Tero Voldi from Regional Council of Ostrobothnia; guest speaker Jorma Härkönen from Limowa Association; Seppo RintaHoiska from Regional Council of South Ostrobothnia.
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
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NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
6/13
Port of Kaskinen has been promoting at TransRussia 2013-fair in Moscow. In photo from the left Patrik Hellman, Timo Onnela and Ilkka Hovi.
Patrik Hellman and Timo Onnela, Port of Kaskinen, Finland 1. The atmosphere and effort were okay in the project, but we still missed some elements. But the challenges in an international project are also sometimes difficult, due to eg. wide geography. We would also like to see a more concrete summary and follow-up of the project: how are we going to make benefit of the work done so far and how will we continue the work?More commitments and post-marketing. 2 & 3. Most important things were the analysis of the potential and need of the corridor. Kaskinen is satisfied with the background-material produced, without the project the studies would probably never have been done, eg. for the railway track and the liner traffic to Sweden. Through the project we have also got important business contacts and builded cooperation and networks. The most concrete benefits will though be realized in the future. 4. The city and port of Kaskinen is definitely interested to continue the work with Midnordic Green Transport Corridor, but we must find common goals and ideas with other partners. Co-financing issues are of course also relevant. If the possible future project would be more strongly connected to business world and contacts, it would mean significantly more concrete and resultoriented content, which is very important. The next phase needs also more efforts in concrete marketing of the corridor and it´s services. We wonder if the next phase should be lead by a Finnish partner ?
Guest speaker Matti Viialainen, Executive Director from Regional Council of South Savo talked about cross border issues between Finland and Russia.
(Read also page 9 about studies made in Kaskinen)
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
7/13
Seminars in Parikkala and Lahdenpohja The municipality of Parikkala arranged a two-day seminar in early June 2013 about cross border issues. The program included also a visit to Russian Karelia and Lahdenpohja where the participants were convinced about the ongoing road projects on the Russian side. Large-scale road investments have already started on the Russian side: from St. Petersburg, via K채kisalmi, Lahdenpohja and Sortavalsky to Petrozavodsk. The roads will be completed during 2015. In addition, the new road connections (ENPI co-financed) from Syv채oro, via Raivio to Ihala will be completed by the end of 2014. The internationalization of Parikkala-Syv채oro border crossing points are strongly supported in Russia and also in Finland the matter should be seen as a positive thing, because the new route would decrease congestions and bottle necks at other check points in South-east Finland. The development of the Parikkala border crossing and increasing tourism has been taken into account in strengthening the entire land use plan of the Saimaa Ladoga Logistics Centre - zone and development. Parikkala municipality has initiated in fall 2012 a master plan preparation for Kolmikanta - Koirniemi-area. An upgrade of the feasibility plan of the border crossing will be completed in the summer of 2013. A regional development perspective would benefit in Russia especially the Lahdenpohja -district, which is one of the poorest districts of the Republic of Karelia. The so called day tourism attracts tourists immediately, bringing revenue without major investments. Day tourists spend more money than other tourists, which paves the way for more permanent tourism investments. Freedom of movement and well-functioning, versatile communications are the basic pillars of regional and business development. Business and industry collaboration has been natural for centuries in the area of Saimaa Ladoga Logistics Centre. The industry has flourished best when the borders has not been barriers.
Russian authorities told about the road constructions and the quality of the work made an impression in the Finnish delegation.
NECL II -partnership hopes that the Parikkala-Syv채oro border crossing point will be internationalized by 2017. More information: - Aune Ritola-Grahn, Business Development Officer, municipality of Parikkala, Tel. +358 44 781 1266, aune. ritola(at)parikkala.fi - Ari Berg, Chairman of Parikkala municipality council, tel. +358 40 566 7328, ari.berg(at)ariberg.fi
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
8/13
Meråker Line - will finally get electrified! Electrification of the Meråker Line has now been decided for realization in the Norwegian National Transport plan (NTP). The Norwegian government invests NOK 3,9 billion in the project which will be prioritized during 2014–2022. A proposal from the Norwegian Government was made in April 2013, and later the Norwegian Parliament voted on its National Transport Plan in June 2013. The Norwegian government suggests that the project should start planning before 2017 and be completted before 2024, but “a special project” -status could fasten the progress. Electrification of the Meråker line means lower costs and significantly lower emissions. The track provides larger potential than what the current infrastructure has to offer. The line becomes important in the Midnordic transport system, both for freight and passenger traffic, and allows faster and more efficient freight. It is also important that the location of the new planned logistics centre in Trondheim will soon be decided, especially the port of Trondheim wants to plan the future with a regional perspective. Sources above: - interreg.no and elbanen.no and presentations from NECL II -final conference
Photo on the right: Karin Björkhaug, leader of traffic committee in South-Tröndelag, presented Norwegian point of view to the corridor at the final conference.
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
9/13
Positive news for Kaskinen and new reports A bio fule plant would mean positive news also for the railway track between Kaskinen and Seinäjoki The renovation of Kaskinen-Seinäjoki railway track was to begin in 2011, but in 2012 the Finnish transport agency aborted the process of this planning which was a complete and unexpected turn-around action from the agency.
Immediately hereafter a large group including all stakeholder groups within the project have had several actions with the purpose to get the repair of the railway track back in process (incl. several seminars, visits to Minister of Transport Merja Kyllönen and a petition for the track at www.adressit.com). The agency´s work plan for the renovation is however still up-to-date and can be put into operation whenever the financial situation improves. One recent news is that Forest BTL is planning a bio fuel factory close to the port of Kaskinen.The factory – when and if operative – would increase the load factor on the railway three times and make the railway repair decision inevitable. Also bio goods terminals along the railway would be essential.
Establishing possibilities for a goods delivery center in Port of Kaskinen The port of Kaskinen has also estimated the possibilities of establishment of a goods delivery center to the port (act. 3.7.). The port is an important export port in Finland for sawn wood, wood products, pulp and the biggest import port of raw timber in the country. The port of Kaskinen handles around 300 ships a year and fullfills international and national regulations governing the security of ships and ports serving the ships. Port of Kaskinen has four port operators, each specialized on different opreations. Port of Kaskinen offers solutions meeting the logistics market´s special shipping and transportation needs and requirements. The port can handle quadruple volume growth without additional investement needs and it has TEN-T status as a part of the East-West tranport corridor. Also eg. the location and warehousing capacities speak for the fact that the consquences for establishment are good, certain boundary conditions can strenghten the future. The studies are available on our website: www.midnordictc.net
Read Prepatory report: Railway terminal in port of Kaskinen, Improvement repair of Kaskinen – Seinäjoki railway and bio goods terminals along the railway line (3.6.)
Photos above from the studies.
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
10/13
Midnordic Transport Study The Midnordic Transport Study analysed eastwest transport routes across the corridor and compared their competitiveness in regard to other routes in Northern Europe. As a result of the study, recommendations for developing actions have been drafted. The Midnordic Transport Study compared the competitiveness of several selected international transport routes regarding transport length and speed, emission costs, and logistics service level. The routes compared in Finland consisted of a number of selected routes between west‐coast ports and Finnish‐Russian border‐stations. (The study was partly made from the Central Finland point of view).
The study found that the main challenge for the west‐coast ports is the small supply of liner traffic services. The study also suggests the regions along the Midnordic Corridor focus their joint development efforts on logistics cooperation in exports to Russia. The St. Petersburg region alone offers notable export potential for consumer goods. With regional cooperation, it is possible to create competitive supply chains also for SMEs. Furthermore, export cooperation in machinery and chemistry sectors may develop rail transport to more distant destinations in Russia and, for example, in Kazakhstan.
Main road 18 reports Includes studies, investigations and preliminary engineering for main road 18 between Multia and Ähtäri (and accessing regional road 621 in Central Finland) which
has been stated to be one of the major bottlenecks on the corridor. The study estimates also environmental and other impacts of the previously mentioned new roads. Main road 18 is an important nationwide road connecting the cities of Jyväskylä, Seinäjoki and Vaasa. The plan focuses on the parts of the main road between Ähtäri and Multia. The 28-kilometer-long section of the road will be redirected to a new location between Myllymäki and Multia. An improvement of the regional road 621 is also included in this plan. The length of the improved section of the road is 15 kilometers.At its current state the main road 18 does not meet the fluency and quality requirements for a main road in Finland and has been stated as a severe bottlneck on the Midnordic Green Transport Corridor. The cross-section is too narrow and there are hills and bends along the road. As summary: the largest impacts of the road project are the improvements in traffic flow, traffic safety and freight reliability. The amount of residents affected by traffic noise pollution decreases. The road project does not have an impact on carbon dioxide emission reduction.
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
11/13
The total cost for the road construction is 53,8 million euros calculated in 9/2012 cost level. The cost for the main road 18 is 45,1 million euros and for the road 621 8,7 million euros. The benefit- cost ratio is 1,43. Timetable for a construction of the main road 18 has yet to be decided. In addition a study was made of reserve routes for situations when the main route 18 cannot be used. More information of both above mentioned studies: Traffic Engineer Pekka Kokki, Regional Council of Central Finland, pekka.kokki@keskisuomi.fi
All studies and reports made in NECL II -project
The main road 18 -study was made also by hearing and collecting comments from local residents. Photo from hearing in June 2012.
are available at www.midnordictc.net/ reports and material
Cross border issues and other recent reports Survey of border-crossing and intermodal issues with three transport case studies
Specialisation of ports and Operation of abnormal transports in Ostrobothnia:
The main purpose in the study (4.5.) has been to describe cross-border problems and intermodal problems and solution proposals in the Midnordic Green Transport Corridor and compare three selected cargo routes between the MNGTC and selected alternative routes:
There are four deep-water harbours in Ostrobothnia: Pietarsaari, Vaasa, Kaskinen and Kristiinankaupunki. The main goal of the study (3.5.) was to describe the present state of the four ports in Ostrobothnia and their possibilities regarding specialization and cooperation. The study also contains six different scenarios that were simulated and studied with Frisbee, a freight traffic model.
1. Hydrogen peroxide 50 % liquid export from Sverlovsk/ Yekaringburg to Sundsvall mill 2. Salmon fish cold road haulage from Trondheim to Moscow 3. Liquid natural gas (LNG) as refridgerated liquid from Trondheim to Kaskinen. The Midnordic Transport Corridor proves to be cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative. Read more in the study. Also a questionnaire was sent to eg. Russian companies and authorities which stated that the direct rail route to the Atlantic port could attract the cargo from continental countries exporters of products and semi-products. But only under certain prerequisites and standards. The corridor should increase marketing and establish a promoting organisation but most of all to have export/import companies to take part in the development of the corridor.
In addition, the operation of abnormal transports in Finland and, in particular, in Ostrobothnia, has been studied. The functioning of the permit process and division of work between different actors was studied by interviewing business and authority representatives connected to the abnormal transport domain. The demand for abnormal transports was analyzed based on route permits granted for special transports in the years 2007— 2011.
A transnational Action/Marketing Plan (act 2.8.) will be
the joint output of all efforts to eliminate bottlenecks within the Mid Nordic Region and the corridor. The plan will be finished by early September 2013 and will help to plan future actions, regarding the further development of the corridor and east-west communications. The document will focus on possibilities and possible cooperation rather than specific corridors and locations.
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
12/13
More operators promoted the corridor at TransRussia -fair in Moscow NECL II -project and several operators from the corridor took part in TransRussia 2013 -exhibition in Moscow during 2326 April. It was the second time the NECL II -project attended the fair and this time the main goal was to promote the actual operators and their services along the corridor. The aim of the joint stand was to promote the east-west corridor to especially Russian and Baltic operators and also get important contacts along the corridor far east. The experience was so positive that some of the operators consider participating in the TransRussia -exhibition even after the NECL II -project has ended. TransRussia -exhibition is a major marketplace for transport services, each year attracting leading professionals Following actors and operators participated at the joint stand: Port of Kaskinen & Silva Shipping; NLC from Russia, the CIS and Baltics. Seinäjoki; Port of Vaasa and NLC Ferry; Innoroadpark & Jykes (Jyväskylä); Saimaa Ladoga Logistics www.transrussia.ru Centre (Parikkala). In addition, Port of Gävle and Deltaterminal (Härnösand) from Sweden visited the fair.
Test the ICT-portal
A test version of the ICT portal has been tested with data from the pellets transport system at the port of Söråker. This successful test used a pool of available transports from the database in the shipping agent part of the portal. This database management system can be connected to most of the available databases on the market to promote a swift integration to existing IT systems. A launch of the first version of the system is available for demonstrations. We currently discuss future development with a potential investor, an interested supplier and an interested shipping agent. Test the system at logisticbroker.miun.se More information and download related reports: http://www.midnordictc.net/ictsystem
Figure 1: The shipping agents part of the portal connected to the database of available transports. This picture only shows a small portion of the data.
Leif Olsson, WP5-leader, MidSweden University (MIUN) leif.olsson(at)miun.se, tel. +46 70 260 0327
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net
NEWSLETTER
Sep 2013
13/13
Thank you!!! I want to thank all of you partners in the project. I also want to thank everyone contributing and/or supporting us in the project. Without the Steering Committee, and their trust and support, our work would have been a “Mission Impossible”. So a big thanks to you all! And I want especially thank you all managers in the project. You are the best and we would never have accomplished the things we have accomplished without you. However…Now the real work starts and that is to secure the future. We need to secure the things we have started so they will be completed the way we want…and we need to start planning for new projects. Heard about the Wait & See Tribe?
North East Cargo Link II
- a Baltic Sea Region 2007-2013 -project • Ca. 2,7 M€ budget • Duration: 2010–2013 • 22 partners from Finland, Sweden and Norway. Leadpartner: County Administrative Board of Västernorrland. More information: www.midnordictc.net
No one has, they got extinct…! Yours sincerely, Per-Åke Hultstedt and all the others in NECL II -project.
Cheers!
DEVELOPING AND PROMOTING THE MIDNORDIC GREEN TRANSPORT CORRIDOR
www.midnordictc.net