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FI-00022 Statistics Finland

Maritime transport data refer to gross weight of goods (in tonnes), passenger movements (in number of passengers) as well as for vessel traffic (in number of vessels and in gross tonnage of vessels).

The following classifications are applicable:

Maritime Coastal area: the nomenclature is based on the Geonomenclature (the country nomenclature for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States, originally drawn up by the Council Regulation (EEC) N°1736/75) in force in the year to which the data refer (RAMON: https://showvoc.op.europa.eu/#/datasets/ESTAT_Geonomenclature_2021_%28GEONOM_2021%29/data).

Ports: the codes used are the official UN/LOCODEs, when they exist. If a port does not have an official UN/LOCODE a provisional (numeric) code is attributed to the port. As soon as an official UN/LOCODE is attributed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to the port at the request of the competent national authority, the provisional (numeric) code is replaced by the final official one. In exceptional cases (see for example one-port transport or special aggregation for minor ports) permanent numeric codes are attributed to special locations or activities. The code list of UN/LOCODE is available by country through the following link: http://www.unece.org/cefact/locode/service/location.html. According to the relevant directive, Eurostat draws up a list of ports, coded and classified according to countries and maritime coastal areas. The list of ports is included in implementing legal acts and as such is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (the "official" list). The most recent list of ports published in the Official Journal is found in Commission Decision (EU) 2018/1007

Nationality of registration of vessels: the nomenclature used is the Geo-nomenclature (the country nomenclature for the external trade statistics of the Community and statistics of trade between Member States, originally drawn up by the Council Regulation (EEC) N°1736/75) in force in the year to which the data refer (RAMON: https://showvoc.op.europa.eu/#/datasets/ESTAT_Geonomenclature_2021_%28GEONOM_2021%29/data).

The type of ship classification is harmonised with an internationally agreed International Classification of Ship by Type (ICST).

The type of cargo classification, available in Directive 2009/42/EC, has been established in conformity with the United Nation ECE Recommendation N°21.

The statistics on shipping traffic can be regarded as exhaustive and reliable. The statistics are based on detailed data collected on each vessel visit

Main concepts used in this domain are the following and for more information on the concepts and methodology, please consult the Reference Manual on Maritime Transport Statistics.

Port -A place having facilities for merchant ships to moor and to load and/or unload cargo or to disembark and/or embark passengers to or from vessels, usually directly to a pier.
Statistical Port -A statistical port consists of one or more ports, normally controlled by a single port authority, which is able to record ship, passenger and cargo movements.
Reporting Port-A statistical port for which statistics of inward and outward maritime transport flows are compiled.
Main port -A main port is a statistical port which has annual movements of no less than 200 000 passengers or recording more than one millions tonnes of cargo. For ports selected on the basis of only one of these cargo or passenger criteria, detailed statistics are required only for that transport.
Maritime coastal area (MCA) -A maritime coastal area is defined as a contiguous stretch of coastline, together with islands offshore. Within a country, an MCA is defined either in terms of one or more ranges of ports along its coastline, or in terms of the latitude and longitude of one or more sets of extremities of the coastal area. Riverbanks can be included. Normally the coastline of each country is allocated to a single maritime coastal area and the coastlines of more than one country may form a single maritime coastal area. There are some exceptions. For example, the USA is separated into a number of maritime coastal areas to cover its overall coastline. For some countries, two separate stretches of coastline may be counted as one maritime coastal area, as, for example, the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of Mexico.
Carriage of goods and passengers by sea -The movement of goods and passengers using seagoing vessels, on voyage which are undertaken wholly or partly by sea. The scope of the Maritime Directive 2009/42/EC also includes goods:

1. Shipped to offshore installations;
2. Reclaimed from seabed and unloaded in ports.

Bunkers and stores supplied to vessels shall be excluded from the scope.

Seagoing vessel -Floating marine structure with one or more surface displacement hulls. In the context of the Directive, sea-going vessels are vessels other than those which navigate exclusively in inland waters or in waters within, or closely adjacent to, sheltered waters or areas where port regulations apply.
Nationality of registration of seagoing vessel (Flag state) -Every ship is entered in a registry (i.e. list) of ships. Registries are maintained by many countries, each having a set of rules regarding safety procedures, inspection schedules, manning numbers and nationalities for crew and officers, training requirements, etc. Ship-owners select which registry to use based on the balance between the relative cost implications of the rules of each registry and possible penalties from insurance assessments dependent on these rules.
Type of cargo- The type of cargo classification, set according to the UNECE - Codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials, Recommendation 21, Geneva, March 1986, describes how the goods are being transported in terms of the vessels being used and the port facilities required to handle them. It is therefore very different from the categories of goods classification.
Freight container-Special box to carry freight, strengthened and stackable and allowing horizontal or vertical transfers.

Swap bodies are excluded. Although without internal volume flats used in maritime transport should be considered to be a special type of container and therefore are included here. For a fuller description, reference should be made to ISO 668 and 1496.The related term "container cargo" refers to containers, with or without cargo, which are lifted on or off the vessels which carry them by sea.

Ro-Ro unit- This means wheeled equipment for carrying cargo, such as a truck, trailer or semi-trailer, which can be driven or towed onto a vessel. Port or ships' trailers are included in this definition. Classifications should follow United Nations ECE Recommendation No 21 'Codes for types of cargo, packages and packaging materials'. Live animals on the hoof are included. Vehicles being transported as cargo as opposed to a means of transport for freight are recorded in the separate headings of the Ro-Ro cargo classification, when they are rolled on or rolled off a vessel on their own wheels.
Ro-Ro cargo -This means goods, whether or not in containers, on Ro-Ro units, and Ro-Ro units, which are rolled on and off the vessels, which carry them by sea.
Gross weight of goods -The gross weight of each consignment is the weight of the actual goods together with the immediate packaging in which they are being transported from origin to destination, but excluding the tare weight of containers or Ro-Ro units (e.g. containers, swap bodies and pallets containing goods as well as road goods vehicles, wagons or barges carried on the vessel). This measure of quantity is different from that used in trade statistics, namely the net weight of goods and different from statistics collected on other transport modes where the tare weight is included. Where goods are transported in a road goods vehicle, in a container, or other intermodal transport unit, the gross weight of the goods does not include the tare weightof the transport unit.
Gross tonnage -This means the measure of the overall size of a ship determined in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969.
Passenger Any person who makes a sea journey on a merchant ship. Service staff assigned to merchant ships is not regarded as passengers. Non-fare paying crewmembers travelling but not assigned and infants in arms are excluded.
Cruise passenger -This means a sea passenger making a sea journey on a cruise ship. Passengers on day excursions are excluded.
Cruise ship -This means a passenger ship intended to provide passengers with a full tourist experience. All passengers have cabins. Facilities for entertainment aboard are included. Ships operating normal ferry services are excluded, even if some passengers treat the service as a cruise. In addition, cargo-carrying vessels able to carry a very limited number of passengers with their own cabins are also excluded. Ships intended solely for day excursions are also excluded.
Cruise passenger excursion -This means a short visit by a cruise passenger to a tourist attraction associated with a port while retaining a cabin on board.

The data used in the domain are collected at port level.

Detailed data are provided for ports handling more than one million tonnes of goods or recording more than 200 000 passenger movements annually (Main ports). The other ports are required to provide summary data. However, detailed data may be included also for minor ports on a voluntary basis.

Finland

The data are available from 1997.

Not applicable.

The units used depend on the variables collected within each data set and are: gross weight of goods expressed in thousands of tonnes; number of passengers in thousands, number of vessels.

TEUs: Twenty feet equivalent units, expressed in units or in thousands depending on the table. TEU calculation coefficients:
• 20-ft freight units (1 TEU)
• 40-ft freight units (2 TEU)
• Freight units over 20-ft and under 40-ft in length (1.5 TEU)
• Freight units over 40-ft long (2.25 TEU).

Quarters for datasets A1, A2, C1, C2, D1, F1 and F2.
Whole calendar years for datasets A3, B1 and E1.

National Level:

• Acoording to the Vessel Traffic Service Act (632/2005) The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency collects data on vessel traffic in Finnish ports and the passenger and goods volumes carried by ships for its planning and supervisory tasks and for preparing maritime statistics. The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency may delegate the data collecting to the VTS provider.
• The compilation of statistics is guided by the general act of the national statistical service, the Statistics Act (280/2004, amend. 361/2013). Only the necessary data that are not available from administrative data sources are collected from data suppliers.

European Level:

• The statistics on maritime transport are collected within the framework of within Directive 2009/42/EC and Commission Decision 2008/861/EC, as amended by Commission Decision 2010/216/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 April 2010, by Regulation 1090/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 and by Commission Delegated Decision 2012/186/EU of 3 February 2012.
• The dissemination is based on the terms of Commission Decision 2001/423/EC on arrangements for publication or dissemination of the statistical data collected pursuant to Council Directive 95/64/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea.

Not applicable.

National level:

• The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is absolutely guaranteed in accordance with the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Personal Data Act (532/1999) and the Act on the Openness of Government activities (621/1999), as well as the requirements of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions.
• Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders.
• Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Wilful breaching of data protection is punishable.

European level:

• (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Article 4 of Commission Decision 2001/423/EC mention that: "the highest level of detail in which data may be published or disseminated is the level of port to and from maritime coastal area. The Commission may however publish at more aggregate level if the quality and/or completeness of information are not appropriate in such detail."

Statistics Finland's release calendar lists in advance all the statistical data and publications to be released over the year. Statistical releases can be found under statistics-specific releases. Statistical data are released on the Internet at 8 am, unless otherwise indicated. The calendar is updated on weekdays. Statistics Finland's release calendar for the coming year is published every year in December.

Release calendar in English can be accessed on Statistics Finland's Website.

Data are released to all users at the same time.

Quarterly maritime transport statistics are published within 10 months after the reference period and annual maritime transport statistics within 16 months after the reference period.

Not applicable

Monthly statistics on marine transport are published around five weeks from the end of the statistical reference month. Annual statistics on transport are published in June following the statistical reference year.

Marine transport is published in statistics on foreign shipping traffic and statistics on domestic waterborne traffic:

Monthly and annual online database tables can be found from StatFin:

https://www.stat.fi/til/uvliik/tau_en.html

https://www.stat.fi/til/kvliik/tau_en.html

Data can be released for research use or for special statistical compilations without identification data through the user licence procedure.

Statistics can be compiled as assignments from data on shipping traffic in accordance with the customer's wishes.

Documentation on methodology is available on the homepage of the statistics on foreign shipping traffic and the statistics on domestic waterborne traffic.

Quality reports are available (in Finnish) on the homepage of the statistics on foreign shipping traffic and the statistics on domestic waterborne traffic.

When compiling statistics, Statistics Finland observes the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP) and the Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) based on them. The Code of Practice concerns the independence and accountability of statistical authorities and the quality of processes and data to be published. The principles are in line with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics approved by the United Nations Statistics Division and are supplementary to them. The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are also compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice. The principles are also compatible with those of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).

More information about this is available on Statistics Finland's quality management pages.

Every year Statistics Finland conducts statistical auditing that helps to ensure the quality of statistics.

The data of the Portnet system are verified and supplemented at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom based on monthly reports sent by the port authorities.

The statistics on foreign shipping traffic and domestic waterborne traffic aim to serve decision-makers in shipping as well as possible by producing data for planning, monitoring, supervision and decision-making. In addition, manufacturing, trade, research and the shipping business need statistical data concerning transport volumes and transport performance.

User satisfaction is followed with the feedback from the data users. Customer satisfaction is followed with yearly customer satisfaction survey.

All data requested by Regulation 1090/2010 and Directive 2009/42/EC are transmitted.

The statistics on shipping traffic can be regarded as exhaustive and reliable. The statistics are based on detailed data collected on each vessel visit.

Not applicable for maritime transport data collection.

As regards the classification of goods, there are deficiencies in the statistics on foreign shipping traffic. All cargo transported in containers, trailers, trucks, railway carriages and other transport units cannot be specified by type of goods by the data providers. Such cargo is recorded as “general cargo” in the statistics. For this reason, the figures in the statistics on paper and sawn timber do not include the entire transported volume of the goods type in question, but part of it is included in general cargo.

Quarterly data should be transmitted by Member States to Eurostat within five months of the end of the period of observation; annual data within eight months. The Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate appropriate statistical data with a periodicity comparable to that of the results transmitted (Directive 2009/42/EC).

There is no delay between the release calendar and the actual release date.

The EU Directive on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea (2009/42/EC) aims to improve the situation by standardising the classifications and definitions used by the different member states in statistics on maritime transport.

In 1981, significant changes were made in the classification of goods, and these impair the comparability of older statistics.

There is no other regular maritime statistics in Finland. Various port operators may release transport statistics based on their own business.

The data is internally coherent. Provisional and final statistics is calculated with the same method from the same dataset.

There is no separate burden since administratice datasets are used for the statistics compilation.

Not applicable.

Data is continously revised until the yearly publication of the statistical year.

Statistics Finland receives all data needed for production of the statistics on foreign shipping traffic from the PortNet system through the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. When Finnish and foreign vessels in foreign traffic arrives in or departs from a Finnish port, the shipping company owning the vessel, or more frequently, its representative, inserts data on the vessel and its cargo and loading and unloading port into the nationwide Portnet system or submits the corresponding data on a paper form to the customs office, where the data are saved in the Portnet system. The data are verified and supplemented at Traficom based on monthly reports sent by the port authorities. Data on domestic transport is supplemented with the freighters’ notifications of transport to the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency's Inland Waterways Unit.

The data are drawn for Statistics Finland monthly from the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom’s system on the last day of the month.

The data are drawn for Statistics Finland monthly from the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom’s system as a line transfer on the last day of the month. The data delivery is based on a mutual data file agreement.

The data entered by the shipping company or its representative are verified and supplemented at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom based on monthly reports sent by the port authorities.

The statistics are based on register data, so they are not edited in the statistical production process. However, new data variables are derived from the data.

Not applicable

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