Chinese coke to Norway through Kazakhstan and Russia
The Norwegian melting plant Finnfjord AS has opened a transport route for fuel coke from China to Norway through Kazakhstan and Russia.
Finnfjord AS, situated in the Norwegian Troms County, is one of Europe’s leading producers of ferrosilicon and dependent on raw material from China. The first cargo of fuel coke from Xinjang in Western China arrived Finnsnes last weekend. The cargo was sent by train through Kazakhstan and Russia to Arkhangelsk and by boat the last stretch to Norway.
The adoption of the new route was forced by the piracy problem in Gulf of Aden. The last boat with coke from China was hijacked and held captured for 51 days before the shipping company could negotiate a solution. In addition, the transport time is halved.
- We save 20 days and over 17 000 kilometres with this new route, technical director in Finnfjord AS, Jacob Steinmo, said to newspaper Nordlys. Both language problems and bureaucratic obstacles have been overcome, and this transport route can be interesting for others.
- Cost estimates were the same as for transport by ship, but when ships have to sail around Cape Horn to avoid pirates, it becomes more expensive, head of logistics in Finnfjord AS, Sten Nilsen says.
Harald Sørensen, project leader of the StratMos-project “Northern Maritime Corridor”, says to Barents Observer he is pleased that an increasing amount of business participants see the advantages of using the Northern Maritime Corridor (NMC) as an effective and secure transportation route.
- Cargo deliveries between ports in the Barents Region is a concrete example of using NMC at a regional level for cargo that has been transported across the Russian continent. Arkhangelsk port has a big potential – only half of the port’s capacity is in use today.
