Sea transport continued to record low volumes in 2020, compared to a year ago. The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic considerably reduced the transport of goods, vehicles, and people through Finnish ports.
The goods volume of foreign sea transport was in total 8.5 million tonnes in May, which is 5% less compared to the same month last year, according to Statistics Finland's data.
Exports decreased by 14% and were 4.3 million tonnes. However, the volume of imports increased by 6% and amounted to 4.2 million tonnes.
General cargo was transported most, in total 1.7 million tonnes, which is 19% of all transport. The second most transported was oil products, 1.4 million tonnes, and crude oil, 0.9 million tonnes.
Container transport decreased
A total of 1 million tonnes of containers were transported through Finnish ports in May, which is 14% less than in May 2019. The number of containers transported was 77,243 (137,877 TEU containers). TEU is the basic measurement unit of container traffic and refers to one container that is twenty feet long, eight feet wide and 8.5 feet high.
Exports of containers went down by 13% measured in tonnes and imports decreased by 15% measured in tonnes compared to May 2019.
Less vehicle transport
Vehicle transport fell to less than half. A total of 128,920 transport equipment were transported in foreign sea traffic in May. Most of those transports were trucks and truck trailers. A total of 56,670 trucks, 32,906 truck trailers, 43 buses and 37,110 passenger cars were transported.
In may 2019 a total of 290,600 transport equipment were transported and more than half, 178,619, were passenger cars.
Passenger traffic
A total of 134 633 persons were transported in passenger traffic in May 2020. In all, 100,843 persons travelled between Finland and Estonia and 29,949 persons between Finland and Sweden. Altogether, 3,831 passengers were transported between Finland and Germany.
Passengers made up only 8% of the number of passengers in May 2019.
In May 2020, no passengers of foreign cruise ships arrived in Finland.
Saimaa Canal
A total of 130,040 tons of transport were registered in foreign traffic through the Saimaa canal that connects Finland and Russia.
Timber was transported most in vessels in foreign traffic, in total 73,102 tonnes. The second most transported was crude minerals and cement.
