It’s fair to say that for certain ancillary industries, trading has been tough. The logistics and transportation sectors have suffered in recent months, stifled by a slowing of new wind projects. Nevertheless, Matias Setälä, Director of Silvasti Logistics, is one of many executives who remains bullish about the future. PES asked him why he believes his company is in a good position to capitalise upon the predicted upturn.
PES: Welcome back to PES magazine, for the benefit of our readers who might not be acquainted with your business, can you outline how you serve the wind industry?
Matias Setälä: Silvasti Logistics is a project forwarding and heavy haulage company, providing turn-key logistics solutions for the wind power sector and other heavy industries. Our services cover the whole logistics chain from project planning and management to surveys and consulting, shipping, storage, heavy haulage and crane services.
PES: When we last spoke, you were gearing up for a demanding installation demanding wind turbine project in Uljabuouda, Sweden. How did it go?
MS: Well, thanks for asking. It was a most interesting project involving barges, chartered vessels, storage solutions, crane work and haulage equipment from triple-extendable blade trailers up to modular axle-lines for delivery of four 3 MW turbines to the top of the arctic mountain of Uljabuouda. Despite the extremely demanding conditions, the site being on top of an arctic mountain, we delivered all turbines in time and in a safe manner, thanks to proper preplanning and our experienced and skilled project team. In fact, we were just awarded a contract for the delivery of next six turbines for Uljabuouda phase two, so I trust customer was very pleased with our performance in phase one.
PES: Similarly, have you handled any recent projects further afield? Can you give us an example?
MS: Speaking of wind power, it has been relatively silent for a few months, but we expect this to change by the end of this year. On the other hand, we have been quite successful in the other business, completing several large-scale industrial projects. This has included the delivery of huge steel bridge blocks for several construction sites, the delivery of train wagons, a large transformer, and big material handling machines, etc. Also some very interesting contracts have been signed for the summer, including Uljabuouda phase two and delivery of the largest steel bridge blocks ever made in Finland.
