Mr Grimaldi at Press Conference in Helsinki, 13 May, 2009

Tue, 19 May 2009 14:53:41 GMT

PRESS CONFERENCE Helsinki, 13 May 2009
Emanuele Grimaldi, President and CEO

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, and thank You for finding the time to attend this Press Conference that will focus on the new services and the developments that Finnlines is introducing in its Passengers and Cargo Network.

Before starting I wish to stress that - despite the global economic crisis that has hit hard since late 2008 - all the operation and line services exploited by Finnlines in the past few years are still operated today.

Nothing – not a single service - has been shut down. Not a single operation has been closed. On the contrary, today we are here to announce major developments that will create substantial opportunities not only for Finnlines but also for the entire Finnish economy.

In order to better understand today’s developments, it is necessary to explain what has happened during the last few months and how Finnlines as a company has reacted after I was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, in March.

In fact, there has been a misunderstanding on this. Finnlines likewise all other business, due to the Global economic recession had to reduce the number of ships operated in order to find a new healthy balance between supply and demand. At the same time, as part of this process, the best ships were reallocated on the most suitable line, whilst new lines and opportunities have been studied, designed and promptly started.

This process is now approaching the end and I firmly believe that once completed, it will indeed improve the level of service rendered to our customers, and the utilisation of the capacity of Finnlines’ ships will improve from the extremely low 50% averaged between December 2008 and March 2009 to a more acceptable 70% as from June.

After this brief introduction, Ladies and Gentlemen I have the privilege to announce to you the start up as from the 1st of June of the most superior network of services performed in the Baltic by the best and largest Ro/Ro passenger vessels in the world: the well know Star-Class vessels.

This set of services for both Passengers and Cargo, includes:

The upgrade of the Motorway of the Sea between Helsinki and Travemünde
A new Motorway of the Sea between Finland and Poland
A second Motorway of the Sea between Poland and Germany
A direct connection between Helsinki and St. Petersburg

Additionally, it has been established in the Swedish port of Wallhamn, privately owned and participated by the Grimaldi Group, a direct connection between Finnlines’ Scandinavian Service and Grimaldi’s EuroMed service. This means that Finnlines will be able to accept any kind or rolling cargo also for more than 20 destinations in 13 different Mediterranean countries.

To make it clear, perhaps Finnlines has never been more active in creating new lines, services and opportunity of business for the benefit of the Finnish importers and exporters. This is being done while keeping a particular care in restructuring the company by improving its overall efficiency and reducing the cost base.

One area of business particularly neglected in Finnlines was the Passengers services. We own 10 Ro/Ro passenger ferries which have 200 cabins each: there is a lot of potential there and indeed it will be exploited: companies part of the Grimaldi Group have a big tradition in transporting passengers. Minoan Lines of Greece is a leading operator in Eastern Mediterranean and Grimaldi Lines is a leading operator in Western Mediterranean. We are doing all the necessary actions to see Finnlines’ passenger business growing and the company becoming a Baltic leader also in this sector.

This brings us back to the services we are presenting today.

The introduction of fast, large and modern Star Class Ro/Ro Passengers ferries on the Helsinki-Gdynia route is indeed a big step forward. There will be three sailings per week in each direction with a transit time of less than 19 hours. Departures from Helsinki are scheduled on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday always at 8:30pm with arrival in Poland at 3pm the next day. Northbound, departure from Gdynia will be on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 11 am to arrive in Helsinki 6:45am the next morning.

With such superior characteristics, in terms of speed, cost, and low pollution, the Helsinki/Gdynia link is also a real alternative for trucks that are today using the "Via Baltica" on their way to or from Helsinki.

Boarding our vessels in Gdynia means saving some one thousand kilometres, cutting the emissions of CO2, and avoiding any risk of driving along busy roads.

Furthermore, Gdynia is strategically located so that its economic hinterland in Central and Eastern Europe is a complement to the Economic hinterland of Travemünde: there is no doubt that with the two services – Gdynia/Helsinki and Travemünde/Helsinki - running at full steam, Finnlines will extend its leadership on the Baltic trades confirming its role as the preferred carrier for Central and Eastern European unitised cargo bound to Finland.

Helsinki – Travemünde

The Motorway of the Sea between Finland and Germany on the route linking Helsinki to Travemünde will be upgraded to 10 departures per week. Every day of the week we will sail from Helsinki at 6pm to reach Travemünde in less than 27 hours. Additionally, every Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays we will sail on the same route also at 8.30pm. Daily departures from Travemünde are at 3am with a second departure is scheduled on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 4pm.

Gdynia – Travemünde is the first ever Motorway of the Sea for Passenger and Freight between Poland and Germany. We believe it has a potential when it comes to fight the traffic congestion and the pollution. Finnlines as well as Grimaldi, has always been fully supportive of the European Commission environmentally friendly policies: the development of the Motorways of the sea is the most efficient tools to ease the congestion on the road network and therefore to reduce car incidents and the external cost for the community. The Motorways of the Sea also brings huge environmental advantages in terms of a lower emission of CO2 in the atmosphere compared to that of trucks and cars.

We strongly believe that it is our duty to protect the environment by switching as much as possible highly polluting trucks from the road network onto the ships serving. Grimaldi has successfully launched dozens Motorways of the Sea lines in the Mediterranean, I hope that this new route between Germany and Poland will be very successful.

Mediterranean Connection

A number of measures have been taken so that Finnlines can benefit at once from its unique leadership in the Baltic and from the fact that it is part of the larger Grimaldi Group, that gives access to a much wider clientele in many areas of the world.

Finnlines has never been in the position to take advantage of the substantial import/export flows between the whole Mediterranean and Finland but as from this week, a vessel deployed on Finnlines’ weekly Scandinavian Service will call the Swedish port of Wallhamn and for the first time it will interconnect with a large multipurpose Ro/Ro car carriers of the weekly EuroMed Service.

Finnish importers and exporters have now a direct connection from Helsinki to 13 Mediterranean countries - Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia, Libya, Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. The Grimaldi customers will share the same opportunity: forwarding their cargo to Helsinki and even to St. Petersburg via Helsinki.

The advantage for both the companies and all of their customers is evident.

Helsinki Hub

In reorganising Finnlines’ services we have always considered as a priority to support Finland as a country. This, I believe, has always been and will remain one of the tasks of Finnlines. This is why we have decided to create a weekly Ro/Ro and Passengers service between Helsinki and St. Petersburg. Helsinki has therefore gained a position as a hub for all the freight destined to Russia and collected in all the ports called by Finnlines and Grimaldi Lines’.

I’ve been living and working in Helsinki for a few months now, and have entirely dedicated my time to restructure Finnlines and make the company able to sail the troubled waters of the global crisis.

I’m fully convinced of the huge potential of Finnlines. I believe that thanks to the new services we are launching and to the actions taken, the company will soon be successful again.

The good professional skills of the management, the excellent hardware: ships, terminals and logistics in general, the care for the costumers are the right receipt for a prolonged success also in the difficult environment of the Global recession.

Soon, a new President and CEO will join Finnlines, Uwe Bakosch. He is a very experienced top executive with proven track records. I am looking forward to cooperating with him.

Top Management Speeches

Mr Grimaldi at Press Conference in Helsinki, 13 May, 2009