The pace is speeding on bullsweek!

Good beginning of the new year to all. According to the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland, the expression ”bullsweek” refers to the time after Christmas when one must commence, yet again, working hard.  The researchers believe the expression to have borne from the regions where bulls were used as draught animals. Back, from the expression ”backweek” refers to the back of winter. Sayings involving weeks without bank holidays reveal all sorts of other things about the Finnish folk tradition. The Research Insitute for the Languages of Finland has also discovered that in many sayings for example food is mentioned. Hence, in Kitee there is a saying as follows: ”at the back of winter  the stake holds even salted herring.” Even though there are not many bank holidays in sight we can surely console ourselves with the fact that the days are getting longer.

There is a clear breaking point in the Logiera endeavour as the overall planning is coming to an end and the regional logistics integrator is being concretely established. We have recently come to a decision on the continuing phase for the planned endeavour that was started at the end of last year, that is, how we are going to establish the regional logistics integrator, Logiera Oy. The conclusion is that we will backdate the incorporation so that the company would be established by the summer of 2011. This is because in Finnish project funding there are no financing instruments resulting from such substantial outcomes, with which we could further the project in a pleasant way as part of the urban development company’s project portfolio and therefore the only functioning possibility is to establish the company. After this we can apply for different development funds from Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment and Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund among others.

The Logiera endeavour is prominently involved in the Transportation Revolution project coordinated by the Ministry of Transport and Communications and Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund. The task of the said project is to take the Finnish transport and civil planning culture and procedure far into the new millenium in which we are already living today. In the project Logiera will function as the leader of logistics and will consequently show the way towards building Finnish city logistics and intermodal green corridors. At the root of Logiera’s concept is the full use of information technology and the offering of its possibilities to all operators in the field in a cost-efficient way. The workshop for the strategy of the transport revolution began last week and myself along with 25 other professionals of the field were brainstorming on setting the concrete target for the project. The final report will be published at the end of April and it will act as a central guide report for the new Finnish administration once it becomes organized around 1st of May.

In the January newsletter, which will be published by the end of next week, information on the plans to start  Logiera are described in more detail. In the future the newsletter will be published once a month. Have you already registered as a subscriber for the ”Stay up to date” newsletter (published in Finnish)?

With Wintery Regards, Jari