Finland’s economic well-being is largely based on our foreign trade.
The majority of Finland’s foreign trade flows flow by sea. In 2020, maritime transport accounted for just over 83 per cent of all foreign trade in freight transport.
Introduction: Introductory presentation of this section (Google Slides).
In export transport, shipping accounted for 92 per cent in 2020. The share was almost the same as in 2019. Slightly more than 42 million tonnes of goods were exported by ship, which is 9.1 per cent less than in the previous year.
In imported transport, shipping accounted for 76.6 per cent and amounted to almost 42 million tonnes. Tonnage volumes fell by 6.2 per cent from 2019. Ship transport includes both sea and inland waterway transport, of which inland waterway transport accounts for only a few tenths of a per cent of both exports and imports.
International maritime transport market is wide open, but on the other hand the competition was uneven until the end of the 90th century due to so-called comfort flags and different registers. In order to be able to compete, EU member states agreed in 1995 on common maritime state aid guidelines, which have stopped the transition of tonnage to comfort flag countries. This measure had led to an increase in tonnage in countries, which have adopted these guidelines in their legislation.
The main types of maritime business are liner traffic and tramp traffic.