Included in BPO, Baltic Ports Organization are fourty or more of the most significant ports in the nine countries on all sides of the Baltic Sea. The organization was established October 10, 1991 in Copenhagen, after the fall of the Berlin wall and the demise of the Soviet Union, to facilitate co-operation between the ports and to take care of the possibilities for shipping in the Baltic Sea region. Initially the Western European ports played an important role in spreading knowledge within, e.g. market economy and business thinking to the new countries. Development over the past years has moved very quickly and now with the expansion of the EU, the Baltic Sea as a market and the role of BPO will both enter new phases.

Throughput of member ports (2007):

• 826 million tons of cargo
• 7,7 million containers
• 90 million passengers
• 300,000 port calls

The main objective for BPO is to improve the competitiveness of maritime transport in the Baltic region by increasing the efficiency of ports, marketing the Baltic region as the strategic logistics centre, improving the infrastructure within the ports and the connection to other modes. Also improving co-operation with the port users/operators, applying new technology in the port sector in order to improve the performance and the integration of ports into the transport chain, improving cost efficiency, good environmental behavior, organizational development, co-operation with authorities and interest groups.

Vision

Our vision is to promote the Blue Maritime Highway in the Baltic Sea. The Baltic Region is one of the most important and fastest growing markets in the world. The Baltic is dependent on extensively new developed intermodal logistic solution with the member ports in main focus.