Finnish Transport Agency reports increase of import/export volumes in international seaborne trade of HI’17
Finnish Transport Agency says the import and export volumes in international seaborne trade increased for January-June 2017 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The number of seaborne passengers also went up. The most significant growth was seen in the number of passengers travelling to Estonia. For the first time, more passengers travelled by sea to Estonia than to Sweden.
Compared with 2016, the export volumes went up by 5.5 per cent and the import volumes by 3.1 per cent. The boost in export volumes was a result of increased transports of sawn timber, fertilisers, ores and concentrates. The 3.1-per cent increase in import volumes was due to the growing transport volumes of crude oil, crude minerals and general cargo.
Transit traffic through Finnish ports increased by 22.5 per cent, or 843,000 tonnes, compared to 2016. Transit traffic increased especially in the Port of Kokkola, where transit exports of iron ore pellets grew by as much as 641,000 tonnes.
By the end of June, the total number of vessels from other countries calling at Finnish ports was 15,103. The number of vessels increased by 2.6 per cent, compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
The number of seaborne passengers in international maritime transport grew by 2.2 per cent from the corresponding period of the previous year. The most significant growth was in the number of seaborne passengers to Estonia, which increased by 4.2 per cent. The total number of seaborne passengers in international maritime transport was 8.65 million.
Estonia’s share of the total number of passengers in international maritime transport was 48.1 per cent and Sweden's share was 46.1 per cent. The number of seaborne passengers to Estonia has been increasing since the 1990’s. For the first time since these statistics started to be compiled in 1980, more passengers travelled by sea to Estonia than to Sweden.
