Two New Vessels Begin Service With UPM's Spain Sea Traffic

Helsinki, Finland, 22 October 2007 -– Two new vessels in UPM's Spain sea traffic will be launched this autumn. The first vessel will start operations in October, with its inauguration on 22 October 2007. The second vessel starts operations in December.

UPM has signed 8-year charter party with Godby Shipping Ab. The vessels are built by German shipyard JJ Sietas. The cargo capacity for each vessel is more than 10,000 metric tons. The new vessels will operate in the route Hamina-Rauma-Santander-El Ferrol.

"UPM's volumes to Spain and Portugal have nearly doubled since year 2000 when UPM started traffic from Rauma to Santander," says Jukka Hölsä, unit director from UPM Seaways. "The new vessels have been designed and tailored particularly to meet the quality and service standards as well as operative characteristics in the Spain traffic."

"With the new vessels UPM will be able to better meet the growing customer service requirements. In addition, the increased capacity and new solutions enable more comprehensive optimization of the whole supply chain. The vessels will further improve UPM's cost and environmental efficiency in the Spain traffic," he says.

"The vessels' economy efficiency, environmental friendliness, efficient cargo handling, and good ice traffic capabilities have been the basis for the planning. The vessels are optimized for the transportation of forest products but also for other purposes, for example containers," says Dan Mikkola, managing director of Godby Shipping.