Fast Markets RISI — The Port of HaminaKotka, Steveco and UPM have joined forces to build a new world-class pulp terminal. The facility is set to enhance UPM’s export operations in south-eastern Finland and represents a key step forward in the company’s sustainability blueprint. The Port of HaminaKotka’s Mussalo Harbour is home to the busiest container terminal in Kotka, Finland. Now, it’s home to a state-of-the-art wood pulp terminal, too.
Thanks to a partnership between the HaminaKotka port, the port operator Steveco and UPM, the new Baltic Sea Pulp Centre opened its quays this autumn. Inaugurated in October 2019, the new D-area of approximately 30-hectares has been two years in the making. In that time, the Port of HaminaKotka has invested almost EUR 40 million erecting 220 metres of quays, dredging a 15.3-metre deep basin and expanding the harbour area, Steveco has put forward EUR 8.5 million to build a modern 20,000m² warehouse a stone’s throw from the quay and UPM has signed a long-term contract to export all the pulp from its Kaukas and Kymi mills from the site.
The two mills, which are located 120 kilometres and 65 kilometres from Kotka respectively, previously exported their products from two harbours: those heading to Europe went from Hamina; those to the Far East from Mussalo. However, according to Matti Tamminen, UPM’s Head of Pulp Logistics, UPM looked into the possibility of centralising all of the volumes from these two mills in one port.