History of the Port of Kaskinen
The town of Kaskinen was founded in 1785 when the King of Sweden, Gustav III, granted a charter for town privileges. Sea traffic started in 1770s; the packing warehouse, customs warehouse and wharfing were built down by the market square to where the Inland port hosts the Guest harbour today. Later on, the merchants built some quays of their own, but it was not until 1875 that the shipping and port operation picked up. The good Port of Kaskinen, with its deep and protected fairway, was already known during the middle ages.
The railways came to Kaskinen in 1912 and a siding was laid to the quay of the newly completed inland port. At that time, the Pile wharf, which was located in the area of the wood yards where the Chemicals quay is today, was also taken into use. In 1955, the constructing of the current deep port began. Today the deep port has extended to 800 metres and 8 berths.
Significant factors in the development of the port were the launching of wood processing in the area in the 19th century and especially the building of the Metsä-Botnia mill in Kaskinen in 1977. An added boost came from Finnforest's decision to centralise the shipping of products from Finnish sawmills in Kaskinen in the 1990s and M-Real's investment in the mill in the first decade of the 21st century.
Tar, pitch, sawn and hewn timber and agricultural goods were the most important exports at first. Salt was a major import. Nowadays the main exports consist of timber, pulp and refined thermo mechanical pulp. Smaller amounts of chemicals, feed, wood and peat pellets are also shipped.
This era lasted until 1974, when the renewed Finnish fleet of icebreakers began to keep open the sea lanes to more northern ports as well.
In the early stages of shipping, the loading and unloading of ships, stevedoring, was carried out by the ship's own crew. At the beginning of the 20th century, a specialised group of workers, the stevedores, took over the job. At first, cargo was handled entirely manually. As steamboats became more prevalent in the 1870s, the first winches were introduced.
Ab Kaskö Stevedoring Ltd / Oy Silva Shipping Ab
After World War I, timber exports grew and timber merchants established a stevedoring company in Kaskinen. Ab Kaskö Stevedoring Ltd was entered in the trade register on June 1, 1920.
Since 1934, the Port of Kaskinen had been an important winter port for the pulp industry of Northern Finland.