Ukonniemi harbor, bulk product unloading plant
Funded by Interreg II Karelia 1996-1999

Objective of the project

The project was going to include the construction of the rail carriage-dismantling centre into the deep-water harbour of Joensuu. The Joensuu deep-water harbour is the largest export port out of the ports of Saimaa, with the greatest export products being talcum, cellulose and wood. Imports at the time were relatively scarce, consisting mainly from cement. The operation season of the Joensuu deep-water harbour at the time was about eight months due to the lack of winter traffic. During the winter months, the companies who use the Joensuu harbour had to find alternative transport method. Should they have built a delivery pit to the harbour, the cement from the North Karelia´s concrete plant could have been delivered on rails from Russia. At the time of the application, cement had to be transported from the harbours of Kokkola and Naantali as highway or railroad transports during wintertime. The delivery pit would have also increased the service level of the Joensuu deep-water harbour in a way, which would have enabled additionally the handling of other bulk-products than cement, such as fertilizers, provender products, urea and light gravel, imported from Russia. The traffic of the harbour had settled in the years before the application to about 350 000 tons a year, 20 000 tons of which included the Russian imports. The project aimed to increase the traffic of the harbour to 500 000 tons a year, to increase the competitiveness of the harbour and to get new customers from Russia. The project was going to be executed together with Finnish and Russian cement companies and other possible Russian exporters of bulk-products.

Main activities

Achievements