Volumes at Gothenburg Port Spiral

Freight volumes at the Port of Gothenburg for 2015 increased by more than one million tonnes – up from 37.1 million in 2014 to 38.2 million last year. The number of cars shipped rose by 29 per cent whilst container volumes fell by two per cent. These are just some of the results from the freight volume report for 2015.

Around 30 per cent of Sweden's foreign trade passes through the Port of Gothenburg, the largest port in Scandinavia. Although freight figures just released for 2015 revealed a mixture of rises and falls depending on the segment, there was an overall year-on-year increase of three per cent.

More cars
Handling of cars in 2015 rose by 29 per cent compared to the previous year. The rise can be attributed in part to Volvo, which posted record sales.

Magnus Kårestedt, Port of Gothenburg chief executive, explained: "Volvo's success with the XC90 is of course a strong contributing factor to the increase in car shipments. Volvo's positive growth looks set to continue into 2016 with new models and deliveries of the XC90 to Asia expected to take off."

Fewer containers
Some 90 per cent of Swedish foreign trade is transported by sea and in the case of trade with countries outside Europe most of the freight is containerised.

The 820,000 containers (calculated as twenty-foot equivalent units) shipped via the Port of Gothenburg over the past year represented a two per cent fall on 2014.

According to Magnus Kårestedt, one of the reasons is the general decline in Swedish container volumes. He also added that the container terminal implemented a highly intensive investment programme during the year, which affected the level of service to shipping and transport companies.

"Nevertheless, I'm convinced that the improvements that have been made will bear fruit in the years to come. A positive sign is that traffic at the Port of Gothenburg rose at the end of 2015 with new calls and larger ships bound for Asia. I'm confident that 2016 will be a good year."

Rise in oil imports
Gothenburg also has the largest general energy port in Scandinavia, which is where half of Sweden's crude oil imports enter the country. The Energy Port handles petrol, diesel, asphalt and a range of other products. A total of 21.1 million tonnes of oil were handled during 2015, up 10 per cent on 2014.

                                                 Change 2015        2015        2014
Containers (teu)                             -2%             820 000      837 000
Ro-ro-units                                     -3%             532 000       549 000
Cars                                               29%            214 000        166 000

Passengers                                  -4%          1 746 000    1 821 000
Energy products, million tonnes 10%            21,1        19,2

Calls by cruise ships                - 32%             50            73
Total, million tonnes                    3%              38,2         37,1