Sea transport drops by 18% in February

The goods volume of foreign sea transport was in total 5.8 million tonnes in February 2023, according to Statistics Finland.

Sea transport decreased by 18 per cent from February 2022. Exports decreased by 26 per cent and were 2.6 million tonnes. Import volume decreased by 12 per cent and were 3.2 million tonnes.

In February, there were 42 per cent fewer containers transported than one year before. Sea transport by transport equipment decreased by 19 per cent, of which the volume of transport by trailers went down by 49 per cent measured in tonnes.

In February, the majority of sea transports were transports of general cargo. A total of 1.1 million tonnes of general cargo were transported. Imports of general cargo amounted to 0.5 million tonnes and exports to 0.5 million tonnes. The next most transported goods were crude oil, 0.8 million tonnes, and oil products, 0.8 million tonnes.

The most import-dominated types of goods were crude oil, ores and concentrates, timber and crude minerals and cement. The most export-dominated type of goods were sawn timber, fertilizers, wood pulp, paper and plywood and veneers.

Measured by volume of goods transported, the largest ports were, in order, Sköldvik, Helsinki, HaminaKotka, Raahe and Rauma.

A total of 1.6 million tonnes, or 28 per cent of all sea transports, were transported in containers and transport units. Altogether 1.1 million tonnes of goods were transported in transport units and 0.5 million tonnes in containers.

Of the goods transported in transport units, 0.8 million tonnes were transported in lorries and 0.3 million tonnes in trailers.

In addition to the transport units used for goods transport, 114,841 passengers’ cars and 1,061 buses and coaches were transported.

A total of 33,527 containers were transported, which corresponds to 60,390 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs).

Altogether 0.8 million persons were transported in passenger traffic, which was 73 per cent of the level before the coronavirus pandemic.

In all, 446,576 passengers travelled between Finland and Estonia, 360,153 passengers between Finland and Sweden and 12,806 passengers between Finland and Germany.

Compared with February 2022, the number of passengers increased by 65 per cent. Compared with February 2019 the number of passengers was, however, just 73 per cent. In February 2023, no passengers of foreign cruise ships arrived in Finland.