Harbouring the Russian and Baltic market

Date: 04/06/1998

By Bruce Barnard

THE Øresund link will bolster Copenhagen's bid to become a leading transport and distribution hub for the fast-growing Baltic market.

Direct road and rail connections to Sweden and Norway will give the port a valuable marketing tool in its efforts to keep pace with its giant neighbour Hamburg, which has become the global gateway for most of the emerging markets of central and eastern Europe as well as the Baltic states.

As a so-called 'base port', ocean freight rates are the same as those for Rotterdam and other ports in the Le Havre-Hamburg range.

The port's marketing campaign is already paying off, with blue chip companies such as Sony and IBM establishing distribution hubs.

Copenhagen is also the first west European port of call for shipments from Tallinn (the western terminal of the Trans Siberian Railroad) Riga, and other Baltic ports which account for nearly half of all traffic to and from Russia.

Baltic business is big at other Danish ports, accounting for a quarter of container traffic at Aarhus.

The Baltic bubble is not likely to burst for some time: Russia has a growing appetite for imports, but it lacks ports to handle them. It will have to rely on outside help for the foreseeable future and Copenhagen is determined to cash in.