Oiltanking, Operail partner in rail

SMOOTH FINNISH

RAIL • OILTANKING AND OPERAIL HAVE SET UP A NEW PARTNERSHIP IN FINLAND, PROMISING SAFE, RELIABLE AND EFFICIENT TRANSPORT OF CHEMICALS

OILTANKING HAS REACHED agreement with Operail Finland Oy to move chemicals to the Oiltanking terminal in Kotka, Finland. The partnership covers rail transport on the Vianikkala to Kotka route and is expected to involve at least 1m tonnes of product per year.

“With Oiltanking’s experience in providing safe, efficient and reliable services in the field of tank storage logistics and Operail’s track record in offering customised and flexible transport services to its clients, we look forward to building a successful long-term partnership,” says Merja Porkka, terminal manager at Oiltanking Finland Oy. “Over the past months, both teams have worked intensely to ensure a smooth transition of rail transport services to our new partner Operail without any disruption with our customers.

“A lot of effort went into paving the way for the cooperation between Operail and Oiltanking, including integrating our data communications and organising full-day safety trainings. Now it feels like we recruited our own employees,” Porkka adds.

Due to their proximity to the border, Oiltanking Finland’s terminal in Kotka and the facilities in Hamina are considered as a gateway to and from Russia. They mainly serve as an important hub for Russian chemical flows; various products enter via rail, are stored in heatable and insulated tanks and forwarded via truck or vessels. START OF A JOURNEY “We are very pleased to be part of this exciting cooperation and to pursue our shared goal of growth,” says Tero Kähkönen, operations manager at Oiltanking Finland. “Both companies have placed great emphasis on ensuring that the highest safety and environmental standards for the transport of fuels and chemicals are met, and safety trainings and audits are regularly conducted.”

Operail Finland, a subsidiary of the international transport and logistics company Operail, started operations this past November, and sees this major contract as a significant milestone in its development. “We are moving forward with giant leaps in Finland and executing our strategy as planned. We are grateful to Oiltanking Finland for the trust they have placed in us, and we will do our best to meet their expectations,” says Paul Lukka, chairman of the board of directors of Operail Finland and a member of Operail Group’s management board.

Ilkka Seppänen, managing director of Operail Finland, notes that, since November, the company has already doubled its headcount. “As we expand our operations, we need to make sure we have the necessary workforce. We have managed to rapidly fill all our vacancies,” he says, adding that the company can offer a more customised and flexible service to its clients, enabling them to improve productivity, which Operail says is a “new phenomenon” in the local market. “We would like to thank Oiltanking Finland’s experts for their faith and cooperation in developing new operating models with us,” Seppänen adds.

Estonia-based Operail AS is an international railway logistics business, founded nearly 150 years ago, involved in freight transport, rolling stock rental and construction and maintenance on the 1,520-mm gauge network from the Baltics to the Sea of Japan. www.oiltanking.com www.operail.com

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