Pohjolan Liikenne

Oy Pohjolan Liikenne Ab (Northern Transport in English) is the road services division of the state-owned VR Group. It is a major bus and road haulage operator in Finland.

Between the Winter War and the Continuation War, the Finnish government saw access to Liinahamari harbour as a priority as the German forces controlled the Baltic Sea and Norway. As the railway only extended as far as Rovaniemi, so the Ministry of Transport and Public Works decided to incorporate Pohjolan Liikenne to handle transporting goods on the 531-kilometre (330-mile) Arctic Ocean Highway from Rovaniemi to the harbour. In March 1941, the company employed about 3,000 people and had 1,500 trucks.^[1]

After the wars, the Finnish State Railways were looking to expand into the road transport industry to complement its rail services, and so in 1949 the Government of Finland decided to transfer ownership of Pohjolan Liikenne stock held by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works to State Railways ownership. After an increase of the company's share capital, stock purchases from private owners, and transfers from the Trade and Industry fund, the State Railways owned 95% of Pohjolan Liikenne stock in 1959.^[2]

The company has three freight companies / business divisions:

• Transpoint Oy Ab - a Finnish nationwide carrier of general cargo.
• Transpoint Cargo Oy - handling partial and full-load carryings.
• Transpoint International Group in 9 European countries - international freight and forwarding services.

There are 190 trucks, 453 trailers and 988 swap-bodies in freight service. Some 800 trucks owned by subcontractors are also used.

Pohjolan Liikenne operates a fleet of 292 buses. These can be seen throughout Finland. The company was founded in 1940 and carried 11.7 million passengers in 2006.

• Zetterberg, Seppo (2011). Yhteisellä matkalla – VR 150 vuotta (in Finnish). Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö. ISBN 978-951-0-34742-3.

• Pohjolan Liikenne (in Finnish)
• Transpoint (in Finnish, Swedish and English)