Finnish Exports to East Asia – Challenges Arising from the War in Ukraine
Piu, Enrico (2022)
Piu, Enrico
2022
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022121328402
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022121328402
Tiivistelmä
This Bachelor thesis is about the impact that freight forwarding companies are experiencing on exports to East Asia because of the start of the war in Ukraine. The aim of the study is to find what are the solutions that freight forwarding companies operating in Finland have found to overcome the changes that would allow their clients to ship goods to East Asia after the EU and other western countries have implemented sanctions on Russia which, as a countermeasure, closed its airspace and territory for EU companies. The study considers air, rail, and road freight only, and not ocean freight. The theory part is about international trade in general, with particular attention on exports, and the importance of trade for Finnish companies to East Asian countries and the data on exports. The method chosen for the study is a qualitative research method in the form of semi-structured interviews with freight forwarding professionals working for companies operating in Finland. Through the conduction of interviews, the author has found out that the major issues that freight forwarding companies are experiencing on exports to East Asia relate to the restrictions in Russian airspace and territory, the increase of costs, and the necessity of rerouting their shipments to bypass the restricted areas and finding new service providers. Given its geographic position, and need to avoid Russian territory, Finland has been affected substantially by the consequences of the war and by the sanctions implemented on both sides. The way of transport that has had the biggest impact is rail freight and moderately air freight. Freight forwarders have dealt with changes and found solutions that have softened the impact of restrictions thanks to the possibilities that alternative routes and diverse ways of transport offered, and thanks to their skills and competencies gained in both normal situations and in dealing with the previous crises.