An interesting Master’s Thesis studying the opportunities for cooperation between Northwestern Russian companies and Kvarken Ports, the port company jointly owned by the cities of Umeå and Vaasa, was presented last week.
Master’s student Ms Oxana Petrova presented her Master’s Thesis in Industrial Economy for several actors within the logistics industry
Ms Oxana Petrova from the University of Vaasa contacted Northwestern Russian companies operating mainly within the forest and machine building industries. She mapped their interest in cooperating with Kvarken Ports and studied how the companies viewed their opportunities of transporting their exports over the Kvarken and along the E12 route. Her thesis revealed that the Vaasa region and its transport alternatives were relatively unknown in Northwestern Russia, but that there was interest in the transport route and that the route was viewed as competitive.
“Our hunches were confirmed, and the thesis opens up interesting possibilities that we can further work with,” says Mr Markus Rönnblom, the Marketing and Sales Manager at Kvarken Ports.
In addition to studying industries that were interesting as regards the E12 route, Ms Petrova also compiled a list of valuable contacts in the companies that she surveyed. Her work is summarized in a list of ten important activities that are designed to increase interest in the E12 route and Kvarken Ports in the Russian market.
“The interviews revealed that there are several actors who are interested in further discussing the cooperation opportunities and even visiting Vaasa in order to establish personal contacts. I hope that my preparatory work will lead to new contacts and that my advice will prove helpful,” Ms Petrova states and wishes Kvarken Ports good luck.
Ms Petrova presented her Master’s Thesis for several actors within the logistics industry, among them Kvarken Ports, NLC Vaasa, Vasek and the Kvarken Council. Her thesis is written within the frame of the Logistics Development Forum Devlog, which e.g. brings promising talents together with the logistics world. The Kvarken Council and Vasek commissioned the work via the Interreg-financed Botnia-Atlantica project E12 Atlantica Transport.
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E12 Atlantica Transport – The project is a cross-border cooperation between partners in Finland, Sweden and Norway along the E12, focusing on development of a functional multi-modal transport route for goods and passengers, joint strategies for cross-border planning and future cooperation structures.
