Transport analysis

Statistics department

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.

Transport – commercial maritime transport.

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.

National and international commercial ports located on the territory of Sweden.

Data are available since 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:

• The statistics on maritime transport are collected within the framework of Sswedish official statistics (SOS) under the theme Transport and communications and the statistical domain Maritime. For official statistics (SOS) certain rules concerning quality and accessibility are applicable, see law (2001:99) and regulation (2001:100) about the official statistics and Statistics Sweden (SCB) precept (SCB-FS 2016:17) about quality for the official statistics.  

• The data collection is mandatory for the data providers, https://www.trafa.se/globalassets/styrdokument/foreskrift/webb_-_kamfs-trafafs_2012-2.pdf 

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:

•  Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (Offentlighets- och sekretesslagen (OSL)).

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."

Not available.

Not applicable.

Not available.

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.

There are no press or news releases for the data, only at the national level.

There is no on-line database from which the external users can extract the data on maritime transport statistics.

For scientific research purpose and for use in other official statistics there is an opportunity to apply for microdata access, https://www.trafa.se/sidor/utlamnande_av_mikrodata/ (only in Swedish)

No other formats.

A standard-documentation with meta information (definitions, methods, quality) on maritime transport statistics is available at national level (only in Swedish). 

A Standard-documentation with meta information (definitions, methods, quality) on Maritime air transport statistics is available at national level (only in Swedish).

A Standard-documentation with meta information (definitions, methods, quality) on Maritime air transport statistics is available at national level (only in Swedish).

Among the users are public authorities in Sweden, the transport sector and journalists, analysts, scientists and students. The statistics is used to describe the evolution of the vessel, goods and passenger traffic in Swedish ports alone and with comparison to other transport modes. 

Users requests include geographical breakdowns of movements and passengers on a port level. Statistics with detailed geographical breakdown, eg. on port level, may not be satisfied due to confidentiality reasons.

Sweden conduct satisfaction surveys and arrange physical meetings with main users on a regular basis. The results of these consultations are to possible extent taken into consideration in the development of the statistics. 

Not applicable for maritime transport data collection.

Assessed to be small and of minor importance. The respondents sometimes lack complete information about the cargo that has been handled in the ports and then do not have the opportunity to provide all the requested information.

Another source of uncertainty is ports that report the nearest previous port incorrectly, we can not rate now how much this affects the statistics. 

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).

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

Maritime traffic statistics are EU-regulated, which means that all EU member states provide data corresponding to those collected in this survey. It is therefore possible to compare Swedish statistics with statistics from other member countries. 

It is important to know that what is requested in the survey is the goods' most recent / imminent port, which means that it may be a port that is part of a longer transport chain and where only a transhipment of the goods has taken place. Freight transport can thus originate in another port, possibly in another country, which does not appear in the statistics.

As of 1996, this survey has been conducted in accordance with EU directives. As of 2008, the product nomenclature NST 2007 is used.

The annual statistics are based on the same data as the quarterly statistics. In this way, the quarterly statistics are comparable with the annual statistics. The annual statistics, on the other hand, contain a more comprehensive report with supplementary information about the transport perfomance and with finer geographical divisions.

Not available.

Preliminary statistics are produced every quarter and, if necessary, the statistics are revised in subsequent quarterly publications. When the annual statistics are published, they are considered definitive. A common reason for revisions is that background data is updated with new information or that parts of the background data for some reason have not been sent in during the regular collection.

See 17.1.

Data are collected from Swedish ports with calls of sea-going vessels with a gross tonnage of at least 20 that operate to unload / load goods or to embark / debark passengers.

Quarterly data collection with monthly data. 

Collection of data is done in three ways. The most common is that the ports register their information via a web form. Some reporters report for more than one port. Information is also received via the ports making withdrawals from their operating systems and sending in a system file or Excel file.

There is an immediate validation of the information received port of call, which means that the respondents are finished with the quarters' respective submission only when all possible errors and warnings have been remedied. Examples of quality checks that are performed are format checks, logical checks, level checks and plausibility analyzes. In the port of call, the respondents have access to a control table where the quarterly calls are updated continuously and the previous year's quarterly and annual totals can be compared with. The respondents have the opportunity to check their submitted information themselves and are encouraged, when all calls have been reported, to reconcile the submitted information against the port's own statistics. 

Not applicable for maritime transport data collection.

No further comments.