Estonian Operail sells Finnish business to Nurminen Logistics
The Estonian state-owned company Operail sold its Finnish subsidiary, Operail Finland, to Nurminen Logistics. The company, active in Finland since 2020, decided to proceed with the sale in 2021 in a move unrelated to Russia...Read more
Will anyone transport nickel from Russia to Europe next year?
The Finnish railway company VR will stop transporting nickel from Russia to Europe in 2023, as it has announced a full stop of any Russian cargo per 1 January. However, the commodity is in high...Read more
VR Group wants more Metsa cargo on trains
Finnish state-owned railway company VR Group and Finnish forest industry group Metsa Group agreed on shifting more goods from road to rail to reduce their CO2 emissions. According to VR Group, this measure would lead...Read more
From Finland to Kazakhstan via Hamburg: this is how
Nurminen Logistics has set up a service to Kazakhstan via the Middle Corridor, in cooperation with Kazakh State Railways (KTZE). The service is a combination of sea and rail transport: from Helsinki to Hamburg by...Read more
Finland’s VR will stop rail freight traffic to Russia by the end of the year
VR Group, the Finnish state-owned railway company, said it will stop the transportation of goods to Russia by the end of 2022. In April, VR Group claimed that rail freight traffic between the two countries would...Read more
Raw timber transport in Finland flourishes despite challenges
VR Transpoint, the logistics branch of Finnish VR Group, saw its timber transport business hitting sky-high numbers in August. The company transported 1,2 million cubic metres of raw wood, marking an all-time record. A new...Read moreKouvola RRT: a fully sustainable terminal ready to kick off
The Kouvola Rail and Road Terminal, Finland’s first dry port covering a 42-hectares area, is nearing completion. The site will commence operations in early 2023, while companies can already examine business possibilities in the large...Read moreWill Finland adopt the European gauge?
Finland’s Minister of Transport and Communications Timo Harakka has called the recent proposal by the European Commission on the European standard rail gauge “unreasonable”. The views of Finnish officials and experts vary, but specifically the...Read more
More than 800 Russian freight cars seized by Finland
SanctionsSince April 2022, 865 Russian freight cars have been seized by Finnish authorities. Over 82 million euro worth of assets were frozen to comply with EU sanctions on Russian coal after the start of the...Read more
Nurminen Logistics dispatched first Middle Corridor train
Finnish logistics company Nurminen commenced its Middle Corridor rail freight services on 10 May. Nurminen dispatched the first westbound train from Chongqing in China, heading to Central Europe. This new service is organised in cooperation...Read more
Finnish VR Group to discontinue Russian traffic faster than expected
Finnish state-controlled rail company VR Group is racing to terminate transport agreements with customers on the Russian route. The company sped up the gradual phase-out of traffic to and from Russia and started concluding agreements...Read more
Rail freight Finland-Russia: traffic to phase out gradually, private operators affected
Rail freight traffic between Finland and Russia will gradually cease after the existing transport contracts of state-controlled company VR Group end. For now, traffic is still possible. However, in the following months, this will not...Read more
In RailFreight Fridays: is Russia-Finland traffic still possible?
Rail freight traffic between Finland and Russia, is that still possible? Based on media reports, you would think it is not, but that is a misconception. It is the decision of one company to halt...Read moreFinland stops all rail freight traffic with Russia after all
The Finnish railway company VR will completely stop rail freight transport to neighboring Russia in the nearby future. This was decided by the board of the firm on Wednesday 6 April. It had made this...Read moreRail freight traffic Finland-Russia resumes
UPDATEThree days after suspending traffic between Finland and Russia, VR Group can resume it. Effective from Wednesday, 30 March, the decision to restart rail freight operations to and from Russia results from further consultation with...Read moreFinland suspends rail freight traffic with Russia
VR Transpoint, the logistics branch of VR Group, suspended rail freight traffic to and from Russia on Sunday, 27 March. VR Group is Finland’s government-owned railway company. The stoppage is in force since Sunday noon...Read more
Nurminen Logistics joins the Middle Corridor
Finnish logistics company Nurminen Logistics and Kazakhstan Railways signed an agreement on commercialising the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor. The two parties plan to launch test trains through this route...Read more
Port of Narvik finds its way to Finland by rail
A new rail freight connection is in the pipeline in Scandinavia. The port of Narvik will launch a rail link connecting it with Haparanda/Tornio on the Swedish-Finnish border. The service will commence in late April...Read more
Nine trains per day to bring wood to Finnish bio-product plant
In Finland, a new concept in the transport of raw timber was born. VR Transpoint will now take care of the transport and loading of raw wood for the bio-product plant to be built in...Read more