History

It all began in the 1970s

A new story in the Finnish history of special transports began in the early 1970s. A concrete plant in the village of Kangashäkki in Central Finland needed to deliver their oversized concrete beams to their customers. Jukka Silvasti, a local boy, decided to take up the challenge. He put up a business and had his trucks painted in yellow and red – the distinctive colours of traffic signs.

Operations expanded. In the late 1970s the Kostamus iron ore mine in the Soviet Union, near the Finnish border, became a major business opportunity for Finnish contractors. Hauling iron rails for the Kostamus railway was a lucrative deal for the Silvasti company as well in the 1980s.

Around the same time, Silvasti became the partner of choice for the Rautpohja paper machine factory. Under Jukka’s supervision Silvasti hauled several oversized paper machine parts to Finland and abroad.

In 1989, having grown into one of the largest special transport companies in Finland, Jukka sold the business to John Nurminen Oy, where he remained CEO until the year 2000.

The name Silvasti with its yellow and red brand colours – a hallmark of quality – returned to the roads in 2002. Ville Silvasti, Jukka’s son, launched the business by acquiring a small company that hauled crushers and earthmovers across Finland. Starting with two trucks, a handful of trailers and two drivers, Ville ran the operations and sat behind the wheel himself while his wife Hanna ran the finances and the office.

Transportations began to focus on domestic machine industry, the fleet and personnel growing constantly along with the business. 2007 saw the first wind power haulage in Finland. Ever since the 2010s, wind power logistics has become a major branch of Silvasti’s business.

At around 2010 Silvasti strengthened their international foothold by opening offices in Sweden and Germany.

In 2015 things came full circle as Ville acquired the special transport operations back from Nurminen, the corporation his father had sold it to, almost doubling the business and resources.

At the end of year 2017 Silvasti acquired Danish special transportation company Frank Nørager & Co. A/S, and following to this the turnover increased up to nearly 50 million euros and staff up to 180.

After the acquisiation Silvasti became the most important player in the special transportation industry in Northern Europe. The road continues.