Stora Enso News

Danish roro ship operator DFDS secured a contract from Swedish paper producer Stora Enso to transport 700,000 tons of paper annually on a new route between Gothenburg, Sweden and Zeebrugge,BelgiumDFDS will acquire two freight ferries for the route, said the release. The new route will be operated by three freight ferries. Two freight ferries - Slingeborg and Schieborg - will be acquired from third party owners for DKK 270m.In addition, one freight ferry will be transferred from DFDS' existing route between Gothenburg and Ghent that currently deploys four freight ferries. The significant increase in departure frequency between Sweden and Belgium will enhance customer services and support the growth of our customers.The route is expected to begin operating mid June…

Two Swedish shipping companies - Wallenius and Swedish Orient Line (SOL) - have formed a shipowning joint venture that will sail from ports in Sweden and Finland.The company has five ships so far and plans to order four LNG-powered newbuilds to operate ice-class vessels for the forestry product trades in the Gulf of Bothnia and Baltic Sea area.The new Nordic joint venture, named WALLENIUS SOL,  is to strengthen the infrastructure for the needs of Finnish and Swedish industry. The first customers to sign long-term agreements are Stora Enso and Metsä Board.”Together we can offer a strong mix of experience and competence, which can support a growing forest industry”…

Ignoring industry leaders and human rights and environmental organizations, ship owners continue to profit from dangerous and dirty shipbreaking practices on South Asian beaches in 2015, according to new data released today by the NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Of the 768 large oceangoing vessels sold to the scrap yards last year, 469 were broken on the beaches of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh where shipbreaking yards often do not provide fundamental labor rights, ignore international waste trade law and fail to respect international environmental protection standards. One of many accidents that killed or maimed shipbreaking workers last year was a major gas explosion at Shitol Enterprise, a shipbreaking yard in Bangladesh.

TransAtlantic and Stora Enso have signed and started the installation of the first order of a new innovative scrubber that washes out sulphur oxides from ship exhaust gases in a totally closed loop. It has taken years to find a solution that is able to coop with the fresh water and ice conditions in the Bothnia Bay during winter. It has been important to find a solution that not only meets the operation requirements but also high demands on sustainability. A closed loop has been one of the main criteria, which means that removed sulphur stays on board and is delivered ashore for waste extraction. The difficult operational conditions at TransAtlantic´s core markets are for example tough ice conditions and winter climate.

The French-German consortium Areva-Siemens , the supplier of Finland's much-delayed Olkiluoto-3 nuclear reactor, has increased its claim against Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima (TVO), TVO said late on Friday. TVO and Areva have traded accusations about who is to blame for delays and extra costs, and the International Chamber of Commerce's (ICC) arbitration court is processing a dispute on cost overruns between the two sides. Areva-Siemens in September said the start date of the reactor, which is planned to be Finland's fifth and biggest nuclear unit, will be pushed back to late 2018 - almost a decade later than originally planned. TVO on Friday said Areva-Siemens raised its claim against it to 3.5 billion euros ($4.4 billion) from the previous 2.6 billion euros at the ICC arbitration.

The future dry cargo vessel must be able to adjust quickly to changing transportation needs. The Finnish industrial production structure is anticipated to change and therefore maritime transportation ought to be tighter integrated to production chains. The cargo ship must be versatile and flexible as the transportation needs and cargo types may change within short time intervals. In light of energy efficiency, LNG is considered the best near future marine fuel alternative. These results are presented in three individual Master´s thesis produced at Aalto University. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the Finnish international maritime transport volume development and change factors of the industrial and operational environment, an optimal future vessel concept was established.

iCargo, the pan-European cargo and logistics project part funded by the EU, has formally launched its three and a half year framework program. The project, formally titled “Intelligent Cargo in Efficient and Sustainable Global Logistics Operations” includes research, development, demonstration and dissemination elements designed to improve the performance of real-world logistics. Building on the success of the previous Freightwise and e-Freight frameworks, iCargo will develop an affordable…

More than 190 participants at the 5th annual Green Ship Technology conference in Rotterdam on March 11-12 explored the latest tide of ‘stick and carrot’ options for making shipping environmentally sustainable. Eco-friendly solutions aired at the forum ranged from legislative compulsion to commercially beneficial inducements. On the one hand, there were stark warnings that politicians are preparing to impose mandatory emissions rules if there is no firm outcome to meetings of the International Maritime Organization marine environment protection committee (MEPC) scheduled between now and mid-2009. But delegates also heard how a voluntary…

The Board of Directors has decided to redeem the preference shares issued by Fortum Corporation's subsidiary, Fortum Capital Limited. The redemption will take place on December 30, 2003. The preference shares, worth EUR 1.2 billion, were issued in connection with the financing arrangements related to the acquisition of Stora Enso power assets in June 2000. Fortum will finance the redemption with debt. All of the preference shares have carried a fixed dividend of 6.7% per annum. The interest rate swap arrangements that Fortum simultaneously entered into has brought Fortum's effective cost of funding below the fixed rate dividend. The proceeds of the bond offering made by Fortum in early November with favourable market terms will be used for the redemption.

A member of the Wagenborg trio, MV Spaarneborg was constructed at German shipyard Flender Werft as part of a key component within a new transport system developed by forestry product company Stora Enso. Modeled after a new intermodal project, the vessel, as well as its two sisterships measures 600 x 82 x 49 ft. (183 x 25 x 15 m), with a deadweight of 13,000-dwt. Cruising at speeds of 18 knots, Spaarneborg, as well as its additional fleet members - Schieborg and Slingeborg — will run between the Gothenburg to Zeebrugge route. Designed to transport 105 specially-sized Stora forest product containers - the technologically-driven SECU (Stora Enso Cargo Unit) container - measures 45 x 12 x 12 ft. (13.8 x 3.6 x. 3.6 m), with an endloading door.

Flender Werft delivered the second of a three-part RoRo series to owners Wagenborg Scheepvart on April 28. Named Schieborg, the 602 ft. (183.4 m) vessel will be put to service between the ports of Gothenburg and Zeebrügge for Finnish-Swedish forestry product group StoraEnso. Designed to carry heavy paper and cardboard supplies transported in the StoraEnso Cargo Units, the vessel is equipped with specially fabricated tall containers, whose measurements of 45 x 12 x 12 ft. (13.8 x 3.6 x 3.6 m) exceed the conventional 40 ft. container. The company uses approximately 900 units of these containers, which can hold up to 70 tons of paper for the combined rail and sea transportation of their products.

B & N Nordsjöfrakt for building three container carriers. The contract, worth in all approx. EUR 150 million, implies about 1,000 man-years of work. All three vessels are planned for delivery in 2006. "We are delighted to have signed this Letter of Intent", says Jyrki Heinimaa, President of Aker Finnyards in Rauma. "These vessels will sail in heavy ice conditions during the wintertime, and Aker Yards has significant knowledge in icegoing technology, having built all of the world's three multipurpose icebreakers", Heinimaa adds. The container carriers are intended to operate on the Gulf of Bothnia, between Kemi and Oulu in Finland and Gothenburg in Sweden.

Finland’s TTS Liftec OY has won a number of contracts for port and terminal equipment recently, including: an order from Sweden’s Stora Enso for 120 x 80 ton RoRo cassettes, which will become part Stora Enso´s North European Transport Supply System (NETSS) for transport of SECU boxes between the Nordic countries and it’s terminals in Europe; and an order from Sweden’s Ståltransport i Avesta AB in Sweden for two translifters type LTH115 -12000. These translifters each have a loading capacity of 115 ton slabs on trestles and coils on cassettes.

On June 14, the christening ceremony of a Container Carrier, ordered by Baltic Container Shipping, took place at Aker Yards shipyard in Rauma. The vessel to be managed by Rederi AB TransAtlantic was christened as TransPaper by Marjatta Härmälä, spouse of Stora Enso s President and CEO Jukka Härmälä. The vessel is the first in a series of three, the contract for which was signed on January 5, 2005. This NB 448 will be delivered in a few weeks, and the sister ships later this year. The contract is worth $189.4m. The container carriers are intended to operate on the Gulf of Bothnia, between Kemi and Oulu in Finland, Gothenburg in Sweden and Lübeck in Germany.

Finnlines said it had bought forest industry group Stora Enso's 16.6 percent stake in shipping company Transfennica for an undisclosed sum. Finnlines said it and its subsidiaries at the same time had made a long-term cooperation agreement with Stora Enso on the transportation of its paper products from Finland to the rest of Europe. Transfennica is a shipping company owned by the Finnish paper industry and operates some 20 RoRo vessels, it said.

Finnlines said it had bought forest industry group Stora Enso's 16.6 percent stake in shipping company Transfennica for an undisclosed sum. Finnlines said it and its subsidiaries at the same time had made a long-term cooperation agreement with Stora Enso on the transportation of its paper products from Finland to the rest of Europe. Transfennica is a shipping company owned by the Finnish paper industry and operates some 20 RoRo vessels, it said.

Shares in Finnlines surged last week, with analysts crediting the rise to growing European economic activity and Finnlines' recent deal to buy a stake in shipping group Transfennica. "One reason for the rise could be that it (the share) has fallen quite significantly and has stayed almost unchanged after other cyclicals started to recover," said analyst Ritva Ojala at Conventum. The initial push for the share could have come from Finnlines acquisition of 17% of shipping company Transfennica and agreement with papermaker Stora-Enso to transport its products.

The first of a trio of three RoRo vessels built by Flender Werft Aktiengesellschaft was delivered to owner Wagenborg Scheepvaart B.V. Named Spaarneborg, the vessel will be utilized by Finnish-Swedish forestry product group StoraEnso operating between the ports of Gothenburg and Zeebrügge. Specifically, heavy paper and cardboard supplies will be carried in StoraEnso's Cargo Units (SECU), which are specially fabricated tall containers measuring 45 x 12 x 12 ft. (13.8 x 3.6 x 3.6 m), exceeding the conventional 40 ft. (12.1 m) container. The Dutch-flagged vessel, which was constructed under the rules and regulations of BV ,is powered by a long-stroke cross-head Wärtsilä diesel engine with an output of 10,920 kW at 135-rpm.