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SEA TRANSPORT IS VITAL FOR BOTH FINLAND AND SWEDEN

The acquisition of AtoB@C Shipping has had a clear effect in environmental performance figures.

A ship is the most environmental-friendly alternative to transport large quantities of cargo. For instance, one Eira-class vessel equals around 1,100 trucks with cargo capacity of 18 tons.

Over 90 percent of world’s trade is carried for sea and international vessel traffic accounts for 2.6 percent of global emissions. Sea transportation is vital for Finland and Sweden which are the group’s important market areas. Around 90 percent of import and export from both countries is carried by sea.

As can be seen from year-to-year statistics, distance travelled has nearly doubled since last year due to acquisition of AtoB@C Shipping and newbuildings Viikki and Haaga. AtoB@C Shipping’s figures were reported for the first time for the whole year. In 2018, they were reported from 1st of September onwards. Also newbuildings Viikki and Haaga were operational the whole year. They were delivered in August and September 2018 and therefore, their influence to 2018 figures was limited. As a result of the above, figures from 2018 and 2019 are not comparable.

Resulting from the acquisition of AtoB@C Shipping we have added a large number of smaller vessels to our fleet. This is also clearly visible in our environmental performance indicators, where we see an increase in emissions per cargo unit. Smaller vessels consume more energy for the same transport work. Consumption per cargo ton transported with a coaster is on average three times higher than on our new LNG-vessels Viikki and Haaga.

One of the easiest ways to decrease carbon footprint is to use bigger ships and slow down their speed. However, it must be recognized this is not possible for all our clients and industries due to lot sizes and restrictions in harbours for instance. Smaller parcels will be shipped and small vessels will be trading also in the future. Therefore, it is important we try to implement more efficient environmental technologies for the new generation of coaster vessels.

Targets 2020

In order to further decrease the environmental footprint of our fleet, in 2020 we will focus on trials with biodiesel and biogas. At the moment the availability of such fuels is limited, but we believe they will play a role in the future when all possible alternatives must be considered to decrease emissions. By using biofuels, we can decrease emissions with our present, traditional fleet. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that biofuels are still extremely expensive and also availability and production capacity is very limited. Sharing the costs of the usage of such fuels with charterers is an imperative in order to use such fuels on a larger scale.

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