BULK HANDLING CENTRALISED IN HAMINA
Cargo Handling Group established an office and a warehouse in Hamina Port in March 2022. It was immediately after the war in Ukraine began. Many of Cargo’s customers had exports or imports from Russia before the war. As soon as the war began, new transport routes were quickly sought for the flows of goods. The Port of Hamina proved to be a good base for Cargo Handling Group and many of our customers. Bulk handling in particular has increasingly been centralised in Hamina. Cargo also wants to develop and expand its services in the port.
EXPANSION TO HAMINA WAS EASY
Expanding to Hamina was an easy decision for Cargo Handling Group. The Toikka family, one of the owner families of Cargo Handling Group, has been running a transport company in Hamina for over 70 years. They were definitely on familiar ground. In Hamina, Cargo already had all the contacts with local players. The cooperation with the Port of HaminaKotka has also been good from the very beginning.
The situation with free warehouse space at the Port of Hamina was good in spring 2022. We were able to quickly rent additional warehouse space for our customers. At that time, we started to offer terminal services in port. We also started to handle elevators and escalators of a new customer and operated as a satellite warehouse for a large international company from Hamina. Warehouses in Kouvola could also be utilized, as the distance between the Port of Hamina and Kouvola is only 60 km.
FUNCTIONAL WAREHOUSES FOR BULK PRODUCTS
Many bulk raw materials that previously arrived in Kouvola by train began to arrive in the Port of Hamina by ship. Functional warehouses were found in the Port of Hamina for the handling of bulk products, which made it easier to transfer bulk handling from Kouvola to Hamina. The port’s good infrastructure and close network of contractors also made it easy to start Cargo Handling Group’s operations in Hamina. We now do versatile cargo handling, take care of unloading and loading of ships and coordinate transports from vessels to warehouses or take care of distribution to customers. In Hamina, we also load bulk raw materials into big bags.
LOCAL FORWARDING UNIT SUPPORTS HANDLING
Cargo Handling Group has all the same forwarding and customs clearance services in Hamina as in Kouvola. The local forwarding unit in Hamina supports the handling operations there well. In Hamina, we handle, among other things, warehouse book keeping and make customs clearance declaratuons and transport docs for inbound and outbound loads. Our forwarders also coordinate transports. The Hamina office is run by our experienced forwarders Laura Hakonen and Mari Salokangas.
Opening the Hamina office went smoothly, as Cargo Handling Group had already completed a full modernization of its IT setup a couple of years earlier. The physical location of the workstations no longer mattered, as the same forwarding work could be done from Kouvola, Hamina or from a home office. Roughly speaking, we just brought furniture, computers and printers to the Hamina office and started to work.
QUICK RESPONSE IS CARGO’S STRENGTH
The last few years have been challenging in the logistics business and there have been many changes. Change seems to be a constant trend and should not be feared. However, new projects do not start at the snap of a finger. Cargo Handling Group’s strength in change is its quick response to the customer’s changed situation. We have a small and efficient organization. The company owners and experts are always involved in the start-up phase of new projects. This ensures that things get started the right away. We leave no stone unturned to offer the customer the best possible logistics solution. Finding the most optimal solution may require, e.g. changes to warehouse facilities, handling and transport equipment or working methods. Our key personnel’s extensive experience in logistics and transport technology, as well as their extensive partner networks, naturally help in planning and organizing things.
GROWTH DESIRE IN PORT OPERATIONS
In three years, Cargo Handling Group has gained a good foothold in the Port of Hamina. We have found functional warehouse facilities for our customers and handling volumes have remained at a good level. Also the number of products handled has diversified. With Hamina, we have also gained new customers. However, Cargo Handling Group still has growth desires in port operations.
If you are looking for a flexible and professional partner to handle goods handling in the Port of Hamina, please contact us.
Jussi Toikka, Managing Director and Entrepreneur
Tel. +358 40 584 0101
jussi.toikka@cargohandling.fi
Mira Mynttinen, Account Manager
Tel. +358 400 163 181
mira.mynttinen@cargohandling.fi
