Aspo's ESL Shipping partners with SSAB for sea transportation

Aspo Group’s ESL Shipping Ltd. signed a long-term frame agreement with SSAB, a steel company, Thursday to guarantee that inbound raw material for SSAB has sea transportation from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea.

The partnership was developed to allow the two companies to benefit from mutual, long-term gains pertaining to efficiency. The agreement currently applies to approximately 6 to 7 million tons each year.

"ESL Shipping's new customer agreement running for several years will secure growing freight volumes, and the new investments to be implemented will release old vessel stock for other transport needs,” Aki Ojanen, chairman of the board of ESL Shipping and CEO of Aspo Group, said. “Besides their environmental benefits, the cost savings provided by the new technology will also allow better profitability.”

The agreement will also allow both companies to decrease their overall costs for logistics.

"We are extremely pleased to continue our long-established sea transport partnership with SSAB,” Mikki Koskinen, managing director of ESL Shipping, said. “Together we shall make shipping more sustainable and environmentally aware than ever before.”

The companies should also be able to make their raw material logistics more sustainable as well as environmentally friendly.

"This new agreement is a solid example of SSAB's sustainability strategy in action," Per Bondemark, chief procurement officer at SSAB, said.