The event was organised for the sixth time at the Lévis Convention Centre, located near Québec City, in early December 2025. Finnish maritime actors were strongly represented both at the event itself and within the official predelegation.
Broad Opportunities for Finnish Companies
The seminar “Collaboration Opportunities in Arctic Maritime with Finland!”, organised by Business Finland, attracted a full audience eager to learn about Finland’s expertise and opportunities in Arctic maritime operations. The event was opened by the Ambassador of Finland to Canada, Ms Hanna-Leena Korteniemi.
Ms Ulla Lainio, Commercial Counsellor at Business Finland, and Ms Kiuru Schalin, Chair of the International Business Working Group of the Finnish Marine Industries Federation, presented Finland’s extensive Arctic know-how and networks. Many international stakeholders are still unaware that approximately 80% of the world’s icebreakers have been designed in Finland and around 60% have been built there.
Finnish companies presenting their activities included Elomatic Consulting & Engineering Ltd., Wärtsilä, and Almaco Group. Almaco is the first Finnish maritime company to establish a permanent office in Québec City.
Finnish Education Expertise Attracts Interest
A strong emphasis on skills development and education emerged throughout the Naval Québec annual event, both in shipbuilding and Arctic operations. Finnish expertise is in demand at both vocational and university of applied sciences levels.
At the Business Finland seminar, Chief Researcher Minna Keinänen-Toivola presented the expertise of Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK) in Arctic maritime logistics and shipbuilding innovations. She highlighted in particular:
1) Integrated maritime value-chain competence, covering shipbuilding, port operations, and vessel operations, especially in winter navigation. Maritime professionals have been educated in Rauma since 1880.
2) Strong research leadership in digital, green, and Arctic-adapted solutions.
3) Expertise, test environments, and industrial co-development, including the SeaSide Campus and advanced maritime simulators located in Rauma. SAMK also tailors education and training programmes to support international competence development.
Québec Shows Strong Expertise and Clear Needs
In the week preceding the event, Naval Québec organised a delegation programme offering extensive exposure to key maritime industry actors, production facilities, ports, and educational institutions across the Québec region. The delegation consisted of 36 participants, mainly from Canada and particularly from Québec. Finland was represented by Kiuru Schalin, Minna Keinänen-Toivola, and Miska Merikukka.
The visit programme provided a compact yet comprehensive overview of Québec’s maritime ecosystem. It began with a visit to Davie Shipyard, which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2025. Davie currently also owns the Helsinki Shipyard and SATA Shipbuilding in Pori, Finland.
Industrial site visits included Groupe Mundial, Groupe Océan, and Marmen in Trois-Rivières. A ship repair dock visit was made to Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ), and port operations were introduced at the Port of Québec City. From an education and training perspective, key visits included the Centre de services scolaire des Navigateurs (CSSDN) and the CFMU – Emergency Response Training Center. CFMU is the only French-language maritime emergency response training centre in North America.
The visits and discussions clearly demonstrated the significant opportunities for SAMK, and potentially other Finnish actors, in education cooperation and education export in the Québec region. Follow-up work on these opportunities at SAMK will commence in January 2026.
Minna M. Keinänen-Toivola
Chief Researcher, Adjunct Professor, Ph.D., M.Sc., MBA
Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Maritime Logistics Research Center
