Finnish Lapland increasingly dependent on long-distance transport
No dairies north of Oulu
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A lorry loaded with meat and milk products, which left the Oulu terminal the previous night, arrives at the Kiilopää hotel in Saariselkä in the early afternoon.
Before that it had unloaded food from its 50-tonne load at the main tourist resort of Saariselkä, as well as grocery stores in Ivalo.
The supply of food for Finnish Lapland has become almost completely dependent on long-distance transport, as there is hardly food industrial processing left in the sparsely-populated province. Finland's northenmost dairy is located in Oulu.
With Christmas coming more than a million kilos of foodstuffs are transported into Lapland from other parts of Finland every day. Even waste transport is dependent on long-distance transport, resulting in vast consumption of diesel fuel.
At a restaurant in Muotka, driver Marko Uutela carries boxes into the back door of the restaurant in the last hours of daylight on the short November day.
“Side of mutton, reindeer, sausage”, counts Petru Paunonen, the head of the restaurant. The order has been loaded correctly in Oulu.
The owner of the lorry, Jari Uimonen, who started the journey from Oulu, got off at his home in Rovaniemi, where he spent the night. Uutela took care of the northern leg of the run.
More than 50 lorries a day take food from Oulu to different parts of Finnish Lapland. In addition to the dairy company Valio, there are lorries from all of the big retail chains, as well as transport companies, bakeries, and breweries.
“During high seasons, such as Easter, we need to take all the spare vehicles into use, as many ski resorts have about as many guests as a medium-sized town has people”, says Esko Horhonen, director of transport for Valio in Oulu.
During the busy periods, about 100 lorries will drive in and out of the Valio premises in Oulu, either delivering goods from the south, or taking them north.
In addition, retail chains sort and transport food to shops in Finnish Lapland from their own terminals in Oulu.
“Most of the meat sold in the stores is transported by the chains themselves. In addition, there are dairy products produced by Ingman”, says Janne Sundqvist, head of transport for Inex Partners.
“The change has been vast in the past 20 years. There are no big warehouses any more: shops and restaurants are supplied through long-distance transport nearly every other day”, Korhonen says.
Milk from farms in Lapland is transported south from Utsjoki all the way to Oulu where it is processed, packaged and sent back north.
Also, cattle from the north is taken to Nurmo in South Ostrobothnia for slaughter and processing into steaks, sausage, and ground beef, much which is sent back north.
Poultry eaten in Finnish Lapland comes from Valkeakoski, and yoghurt comes from Jyväskylä and Hyvinkää.
“It is difficult for travellers to understand how much transport capacity is used to supply Lapland, as the lorries mainly move at night”, Janne Sundqvist says.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 8.12.2008 - TODAY |
 Finnish Lapland increasingly dependent on long-distance transport |
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