New Swedish-Finnish port – Kvarken Ports Ltd – presented in Vaasa

During the Satama 14 Port Conference held in Vaasa, Finland on 8 – 9 October 2014, Mr Lennart Pettersson presented the new port – Kvarken Ports Ltd – starting its operation on the 1st of January 2015.

The port is equally owned by two towns: City of Umeå on the Swedish side and City of Vaasa on the Finnish side of the Kvarken. Mr. Pettersson is a member of the Board of Directors of the new port. Kvarken Ports Ltd is the second example (after Copenhagen Malmo Port) of cross-border body created by public partners from two counties.

The Satama Conference was realized in times when ports are facing substantial changes especially in Finland, partially due to new legislation. Nearly twenty experts shared their views on current port-related issues with the conference audience. Mr. Jose Anselmo from the European Commission concentrated on the Ten-T matters and the new Connect Europe Facility (CEF) and Ms. Isabelle Ryckbost, representing the European Sea Ports Organisation ESPO, focused on the port policy in the aftermath of the European elections in her speech.

The audience also heard Mr. Bogdan Oldakowski, Baltic Ports Organization BPO, giving his insight to the challenges the Baltic Sea port markets will face in the future. The conference days were chaired by Ms. Annaleena Mäkilä, Finnish Port Association and Dr. Kimmo Naski, Port of HaminaKotka Ltd. 

The Centre for Maritime Studies of the University of Turku organized the Satama 14 Port Conference on 8 - 9 October 2014 in Vaasa Finland, now for a ninth time. Conference in the series focus on topical port-related matters especially in the Baltic Sea area and they take place every other year. Since 1998 the conference has visited the port cities of Naantali, Pori, Helsinki, Kotka, Rauma, Oulu, Turku, Tallinn.