Transit traffic of cars through Finland to Russia has doubled again

On record day 246 truckloads of cars for Russian market passed through Port of Hanko

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More and more cars are being imported into Russia through Finland. Between January and August this year, more than 100,000 new cars passed through the Port of Hanko alone to buyers in Russia. For the first time, the transit traffic of cars through Finnish ports exceeds the importing of cars for the domestic market.
      The transit traffic of vehicles happens mostly through Hanko, but other Finnish ports - such as Kotka and Turku - also get their share of cars passing through to the Russian market.
     
This year transit traffic through Hanko has doubled from the year before, and the growth is expected to continue for at least two more years.
      Car consignments to Finnish ports come mostly from Germany, but some shipments arrive even from Japan and Korea.
      Other countries of destination for vehicle transit traffic through Finland include the Baltic States, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
      Surprisingly enough, some of these transito vehicles through Hanko even ended up in the Kamchatka peninsula on the Russian Pacific coast, right next to Japan. And of course the country of origin of these cars was none other than... Japan!
     
On the 19th of April this year, an unprecedented 246 truckloads of transito cars left the Hanko Free Port for Russia.
      On a regular day, one hundred to two hundred truckloads of cars for the Russian market alone pass through the Hanko port. An equal number of vehicles for the Finnish market adds to the hectic schedule of the Customs officials.
      Japanese makes such as Toyota, Nissan, and Mitsubishi are particularly popular among the growing Russian middle class, whereas haulage equipment, such as trucks, vans, and lorries, may come from the German manufacturers Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz.
     
Transit traffic to Russia has created more than a hundred new jobs in the Port of Hanko, including stevedores and customs officials.
      Western car manufacturers favour hauling through Finland because it is safe and efficient.
      In Hanko, the border-crossing formalities and queueing take only a fraction of the time compared to the Poland-Belarus route. The Port of Hanko has spent decades systematically developing its car importation and transit traffic practices and related services. 


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Transit traffic brings revenues, but plenty of extra work for customs (6.8.2003)

Links:
  Port of Hanko
  Kamchatka

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