• Greater Helsinki
  • A compact, green and healthy city
  • Highly educated professionals
  • Population and workforce
  • Strategic location between East and West
  • The economy of Greater Helsinki
• Finland
  • International accessibility
  • Population and workforce
  • The Finnish Economy
• Baltic Sea Region
  • Population and workforce
  • The economy of the Baltic Sea region
• The Economy
  • Driving force of the Finnish economy
  • Environmental Performance
• Costs
  • Additional costs
  • Salary costs and contributions
• Ecosystems
  • Demographics of business
  • Global corporate B2B brands in Finland
  • International business environment
  • Key ecosystems
    • Cleantech
    • Design & Creativity
    • ICT
    • KIBS, Knowledge Intensive Business Services
    • Life Sciences
    • Logistics
  • Venture Capital
• Workforce
  • Employment
  • Level of education
    • Skills
  • Productivity
• R&D&I (Research, Development & Innovation)
  • Benchmarking the Finnish innovation system
  • Independent research institutes located in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa
  • Patents
    • Domestic companies with the highest number of patent applications filed in 2010
  • R&D expenditure
  • R&D&I support organizations in Greater Helsinki Region
  • Research institutions and communities of science
  • The basic science and innovation profile of Finland as a radar graph
  • The objectives of Finnish innovation policy and funding of R&D 2011-2015
  • Universities and universities of applied sciences
• Infrastructure
  • Business districts
  • Commuting times
  • Well developed and functioning infrastructure
• Taxes

The inter-modal bridge between the EU, Russia, China and the Far East

In an ever changing global business environment, with the rise of China and Russia as global economic powers, Helsinki is fast becoming an increasingly strategic location as a gateway between Western & Eastern Europe, the Nordics and Baltics, Russia, Central Asia and the Far East.  Along with the Southern neighbors in Estonia, Finland is the first EU entry port of call from Russia.

Investing in state of the art infrastructure,  technologies and services ensures that the highest standards and best practice are available for the shipping and logistics industry. Globally, World Bank Doing Business 2011 study ranked Finland 6^th out of 183 economies worldwide for Ease of Trading Across Borders. Finland was also ranked 12^th in the world on World Bank’s International Logistics Performance Index 2010.

Helsinki already boasts the highest number of regular direct flights between Europe and China, as well as having some of the shortest flight times (only 5 hours to Shanghai and Beijing).  Our historic relationship with Russia continues to thrive and Helsinki is now less than 3 hours by train to St Petersburg although of course you can choose to fly or sail.  

There are over 5,800 businesses in the Helsinki region’s logistics ecosystem, employing 53,300 people and generating annual revenues of 12.2 billion Euros in 2008.

Ports

Helsinki is the major passenger sailing hub in the Baltic with 9.8 million ferry and cruise passengers per year in 2010. Helsinki is called the “daughter of the Baltic”, its port area  spread over 302 hectares, with more than 11km of quays, 31 ro-ro ramps and  handling 10.92 billion tons of imports and exports per annum in 2010[1]. Nearby Kotka, is the largest of all Finnish ports, handing 11.3 billion tons of international cargo per annum and with 558,000 square metre of warehousing and storage space. Vuosaari Harbour has assumed the operations of two container harbours, West Harbour in the city centre and Sörnäinen Harbour, and will eventually also replace the oil harbour in Laajasalo

Research has shown that that  Finnish ports are consistently rated among the best in the world– Globally, World Bank Doing Business 2011 study ranked Finland 6^th out of 183 economies worldwide for Ease of Trading Across Borders. Finland was also ranked 12^th in the world on World Bank’s International Logistics Performance Index 2010.  

In the unlikely event that ships run into technical problems, Finland and Helsinki have deep competence and facilities in ship building, maintenance, repair and overhaul. Wartsilla, one of the world leaders in ship power solutions, has its global HQ here in Helsinki. Every fourth cruise line ship in the world is made in Finland.[2]

Airport

Helsinki Vantaa international airport has seen a 28% growth in international passenger traffic  and  a 27% increase in international  freight travel between 2005 and 2010. During 2010 the airport handled 12.9 million passengers[3]. It has 3 runways, capable of handling the largest aircraft in the world. This ultra-modern airport is the hub of Airport Cluster Finland and home to the Aviopolis Business Par – an area of 400,000 square meters has already been zoned for the construction of office space.  The last two years has seen new routes and investments by American Airlines,  Flybe (Finnish Commuter Airlines), Neff Capital (Nordic Global Airlines) and Air Baltic.

Logistics Centres

DB Schenker  (part of the German Deutsche Bahn group)  is one of the world leading logistics players that is expanding its footprint in Helsinki region  investing Euros 45 million at 2 new sites at Vantaa airport and a warehousing andlogistics complex at Kiila.