Fewer vessels called at Swedish ports last year
News 2025-01-20
The number of vessels calling at Swedish ports continued to decline last year. Passenger numbers also decreased, while cargo volumes remained stable. This is according to the Swedish Maritime Administration’s annual statistics for 2024, published today.
Last year, Swedish ports recorded 67,100 vessel calls, a decrease of almost four per cent compared with 2023. Excluding the pandemic year of 2020, this is the lowest figure in five years. In 2019, the number of vessel calls was 79,700.
As always, the highest number of vessel calls was recorded in southern Sweden, in the Malmö port city group, due to the busy traffic across the Öresund Strait and frequent ferry services to Germany and Poland. However, Helsingborg was also the port that recorded the largest decrease in vessel calls in 2024, while Stockholm saw the largest increase in absolute numbers. In percentage terms, Karlshamn recorded the largest increase in 2024, up 17 per cent, while Strömstad experienced the largest decrease, down 46 per cent.
While the number of vessel calls has declined, cargo volumes carried on board vessels have remained stable over the past five years. Compared with 2023, cargo volumes increased by two per cent in 2024, reaching a total of just over 159 million tonnes.