Vuosaari Harbour

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Coordinates: 60°12′56″N, 25°10′42″E

The building site in September 2007, seen from its south-west corner.

Vuosaari Harbour (Vuosaaren satama in Finnish; Nordsjö hamn in Swedish) is a seaport facility in Helsinki, Finland, expected to open in 2008.

The harbour, located in the suburb of Vuosaari in East Helsinki, will handle goods traffic for the Greater Helsinki region, while passenger services will remain in Helsinki city centre. Vuosaari Harbour will assume the operations of the West Harbour in the city centre, Kalasatama in Sörnäinen and the oil harbour in Laajasalo. In addition, the railway depot in Pasila currently used by goods transport will be moved northwards. These processes will release land for commercial and residential redevelopment.

The harbour will have a total land area of 150 hectares, including 90 hectares of land reclaimed by filling the sea. There will also be a 75-hectare business park next to the harbour. The harbour project also includes the extension of Ring III to the new seaport and a new railway line to be used for transporting goods in and out of the harbour.

[edit] History

In 1986 M/S Birka Princess was delivered from the shipyard, which has now been replaced by a part of the new harbour.

The harbour site was previously the site of the Vuosaari shipyard of the state owned Valmet corporation. The shipyard started operations in 1974, replacing the old Imperial Russian shipyard in Katajanokka. The shipyard built a series of tankers to Neste (now Fortum) and a Norwegian customer. It later entered the cruiseferry market by building the M/S Birka Princess for Birka Line. After the merger with the Wärtsilä shipyards in 1987 and a subsequent bankruptcy, shipbuilding in Helsinki was moved to the Helsinki New Shipyard in Hernesaari. The shipyard was still occasionally for routine dockings and in emergencies, as in the case of the sinking and rescue of the Sally Albatross.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ Vuosaaren telakka (Finnish)

[edit] External links

• Vuosaari Harbour project
• Plans for the redevelopment of the harbour areas at the Helsinki City Planning Department's projects website:
  • Kruunuvuorenranta (the oil harbour)
  • Länsisatama (West Harbour)
  • Sörnäistenranta-Hermanninranta (Kalasatama)