- We see that ferry traffic to and from foreign ports has taken back part of the passenger loss that we saw at the beginning of the pandemic. However, travel is still about 30 percent below the levels before the pandemic, the first quarter of 2019. The ports' cargo handling was never affected as much as passenger traffic and is about the same levels as before the pandemic, says Henrik Petterson, project manager at Trafikanalys.

Due to seasonal variations during the year, increases and decreases are reported as changes during the first quarter of 2022 compared with the first quarter of 2021, and thus not with the previous quarter.

The number of passengers in international traffic has increased significantly more than in domestic traffic, + 104 percent increased international traffic, from 1.5 million to 3.0 million passengers. Öresund traffic contributed most to the increase with 587,000 more passengers than in 2021. Second most traffic was to and from Finland with 483,000 more passengers.

Number of passengers in domestic traffic, ie. mainly traffic to and from Gotland, increased by 36 percent, from 129,000 to 175,000 passengers.

The total amount of unloaded and loaded goods in Swedish ports increased slightly, by 3 percent, from 42.3 to 43.7 million tonnes.

We can see that more goods arrive from a foreign port than depart to a foreign port. Unloaded (arriving) goods from a foreign port increased by 8 per cent, from 18.7 to 20.3 million tonnes, while the amount of loaded (departing) goods to a foreign port decreased by 3 per cent, from 17.5 to 17.0 million tonnes. Total domestic cargo handling over the quay increased by 6 percent, from 6.0 to 6.4 million tonnes.

The product group Coal, Crude Oil and Natural Gas increased the most when importing from a foreign port, by 752,000 tonnes compared with the first quarter of 2021, to 4.9 million tonnes. The same product group also decreased the most when exporting goods to a foreign port, the reduction was 898,000 tonnes, to 18,000 tonnes. The product group Ore and other products from extraction gained the most weight in domestic traffic compared with the first quarter of 2021, the increase was 241,000 tonnes, to 1.1 million tonnes unloaded.

The statistics include all Swedish ports with vessels with a gross tonnage of at least 20, which call at commercial traffic; to load / unload goods or leave / pick up passengers. Domestic goods and passengers are counted twice in the reported statistics, this to measure the total activity in the ports. Passengers on cruise ships are included.

Full report can be accessed here https://www.trafa.se/en/maritime-transport/shipping-goods/