transport connections

Finland’s connections to Europe could be given a boost thanks to a new fixed link across the Baltic Sea between the country and neighbours Sweden and Estonia.

A new report published by the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) recommends building either a bridge or tunnel between Sweden and Finland amid growing geopolitical tensions and the EU’s plans to connect the continent.

“While securing maritime transport in the Baltic Sea, Finland has to establish new logistical routes and secure connections to Europe,” Tiina Haapasalo, the chief policy adviser in transport and infrastructure at the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), told Euronews Next

“Beyond old times, should there be any escalation in the Baltic Sea, we need alternative routes,” Haapasalo added

The lobby group wants the Finnish government to start a study focusing on three fixed connection options to better connect Finland with the rest of Europe over the Baltic Sea.

The three routes it suggests include a tunnel or a bridge between Helsinki and Stockholm via Turku and the Åland archipelago, the Gulf of Bothnia between Vaasa in Finland and Umeå in Sweden, and an underwater tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn in the Gulf of Finland.

Better connections to mainland Europe

The potential Helsinki-Stockholm link could connect to Copenhagen via the Øresund Bridge, a project that was once dismissed as a pie in the sky idea but is now hailed as a success, with record toll station passages totalling 7.5 million in 2024, according to recent figures released by the Øresund Bridge

Connecting Copenhagen and Malmö, the bridge serves as a critical artery that links Sweden with the rest of Europe

When it first opened in 2000, it was met with much fanfare after more than a century of deliberation.

It has since transformed travel and trade between Denmark and Sweden, setting a precedent for future large-scale Nordic infrastructure projects.

With an average of more than 20,600 road crossings per day, the bridge had a profit of DKK 1.6 billion (about €220 million) in 2024 – an increase of DKK 155 million (about €21 million) compared to 2023

“There is a general interest among the Nordic countries to connect better to each other and connect to each other’s infrastructure and economies that are closer to each other,” Björn Hasselgren, a guest researcher in the economic history department at Sweden’s Uppsala University, told Euronews Next.

Hasselgren says he participated in a similar discussion about better connections and the Helsinki-Stockholm-Copenhagen link a few years ago.

“From a geopolitical point of view, it has really changed and it brings new light into this discussion. So I think there is a stronger drive from the Finnish side,” he said.

Experts say an infrastructure project that involves different countries will take a lengthy investigation and face challenges.

“If we speak about Sweden to Finland through Åland, it’s probably much more challenging than the Øresund bridge, which is quite simple actually. It’s one bridge more or less with some connections,” Hasselgren said.

“In this case, you also have to pass Åland which is troublesome. You have more environmental concerns compared to Øresund’s side. And I think it would challenge to a higher degree the geography of both countries,” he added

However, Hasselgren says the proposed link is not impossible and it would drastically change the economics of transportation between the Nordic countries, especially Sweden and Finland.

“Going back to the broader political aims for closer cooperation between the countries, I think it would be welcomed. I think it could really change the economic geography of southern Finland and Sweden drastically”.

He added that there could be more rail and road transport to the European continent through Denmark and Germany, so they would need to analyse the transport capacity on the Swedish side.

Timed with major transport infrastructure projects in Europe

EK has called for immediate action during the Finnish government’s current term amid infrastructure and development projects in the rest of Europe, such as the EU’s TEN-T plans.

For example, the Fehmarnbelt tunnel, an 18 km rail and road link between Denmark and Germany, will make rail journeys two hours faster and road journeys over one hour faster once completed in 2029

Other projects scheduled to be completed by 2030 include Rail Baltica and the North Bothnia Line, which will enable fast train traffic through the Baltic countries to Warsaw and establish an electrified double-track railway between the Swedish cities of Umeå and Luleå respectively.

The three routes in EK’s report have been previously discussed by multiple stakeholders in the country.

The Finnish government, for instance, earmarked €200,000 for feasibility studies for a fixed link between Umeå and Vaasa across the Gulf of Bothnia, an area called Kvarken, in 2024, according to Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

A report on the feasibility of this connection is due to be published this year by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.

“Of course, this fixed link could possibly have some economic impacts on both regions, but at this moment, it seems that the national level economic impact, for example, in Finland, would be quite small. And that’s because the current maritime transport system is quite efficient at the moment,” Jaakko Knuutila, division director of planning at the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, told Euronews Next

“We have been in dialogue with Swedish authorities, of course, for example, the Swedish Transport Administration and the Vesterbotten county… Their response has been curious and very cooperative,” Knuutila added.

However, the agency says it’s too early to comment on the three suggestions mentioned in EK’s report.

EK says Finland depends on exports with a major vulnerability in transport connections as nearly 100 per cent of its exports are transported as sea freight via the Baltic Sea.

“This dependence must be addressed now,” Haapasalo said.