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Hancock Lumber Explores New Market Opportunity in Greenland.
Last week Hancock Lumber’s Retail COO, Mark Hopkins, was featured on WCSH6 regarding recent work the company’s been exploring on trade with Greenland and opening a new market. Over the last six months Mark has been collaborating with a group of businesses discussing a partnership to supply and transport building materials to Greenland. Greenland is a massive island and autonomous Danish territory located between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, with much of its land surface covered in ice. Most of its small population–less than 60,000 people–lives along the ice-free, fjord-lined coast.
As part of the work, Mark attended the Arctic Council Roundtable earlier this month which was held in the United States for the first time, right here in Portland, Maine. Companies are making connections and leveraging a new joint agreement between Royal Arctic Line and EIMSKIP that could open up trade between Maine and Greenland–via Iceland. Currently, almost all of Greenland’s imported products come from and/or go through Denmark, making it cost prohibitive to export Maine building materials to the island. Faster, easier, more economical shipping routes could bring Hancock building materials to Greenlandic villages in need of renovating and rebuilding decaying housing.
“If we can provide a value added solution to help Greenland’s cost of living by shipping great building products from Maine, it’s a win-win,” said Mark.
Hancock Lumber collaborating with the Maine International Trade Center, Soli DG, EIMSKIP, and the Maine Port Authority to supply and ship house packages to a new market is another example of Maine companies coming together to innovate and problem-solve. In the past, Hancock Lumber has also supplied house packages to destinations as far as Japan and Hawaii. We hope to update you soon with the first house packages traveling to Greenland. Stay tuned!
To learn more, check out the related article and links below:
- 2015 Portland Press Herald article discussing Eimskip’s office in Portland, ME:
- EIMSKIP is a leading transportation company providing outstanding services through a dependable transport system in the North Atlantic and an extensive worldwide network of reefer logistics services.
- The Government of Greenland has given Royal Arctic Line A/S an exclusive concession for the transportation of all sea cargo to and from Greenland and between the Greenlandic towns and settlements. The shipping company Greenland’s lifeline.
- Founded in Maine, where there is rich maritime history and culture, Soli DG is focused on sustainable transportation options. The company uses this focus to create and maintain intermodal transportation networks that unlock markets and margins for shippers. Learn more about Soli DG here.