Ships that enter the Baltic Sea through the Skagen area (between Sweden and Denmark) go mainly to St. Petersburg, Gothenburg and to the Ust-Luga port. Distance The distance sailed in km seems to be rather stable in all ship types since 2006. Most of the kilometres sailed in the Baltic Sea are done by ships in the cargo category. Both container and tanker ships have slightly decreased the number of km sailed over the recent years (Figure 1.4). Figure 1.4: Distance sailed per ship type. The data gap of 2009-2010 is due to a missing AIS data from the Kiel channel entrance are during these two years. Some seasonal variation is visible. From approximately January to March the sea freezes in some parts of the Baltic Sea which presents challenges to marine traffic. In some cases, ships have to deviate routes as there can be solid ice that cannot be broken by icebreakers. Passenger ships are most affected by the winter season but cargo is also clearly affected. Fishing vessels, on the contrary, seem to increase their activity during winter. Number of ships Roughly half of the IMO ships travelling the Baltic Sea (48%) are in the category “cargo”- general cargo ships (Figure 1.5). Fig. 1.5: Number of IMO ships traveling in the Baltic Sea in 2016 to be updated AIS has been obligatory for ships larger than 300 GT on international voyages since early 2005. The number of ships in the AIS dataset seem to be increasing in all ship types from 2006 but this can be due to the fact that more ships carry AIS transmitters. The technology has become more affordable and due to its usefulness in collision avoidance is also attractive for those ships that are not obliged by IMO to carry an AIS device. The number of tugs and other smaller vessels not required to carry AIS, included in the category “Other “, and has particularly increased in recent years (Figure 1.6). Fig. 1.6: Number of IMO ships in the Baltic Sea since 2006 Size The amount of larger ships, especially tankers and container vessels, in the Baltic Sea has increased dramatically. The number of ships over 75 000 GT has grown from 115 in 2006 to 203 in 2016 (Figure 1.7).
Ships that enter the Baltic Sea through the Skagen area (between Sweden and Denmark) go mainly to St. Petersburg, Gothenburg and to the Ust-Luga port. Distance The distance sailed in km seems to be rather stable in all ship types since 2006. Most of the kilometres sailed in the Baltic Sea are done by ships in the cargo category. Both container and tanker ships have slightly decreased the number of km sailed over the recent years (Figure 1.4). Figure 1.4: Distance sailed per ship type. The data gap of 2009-2010 is due to a missing AIS data from the Kiel channel entrance are during these two years. Some seasonal variation is visible. From approximately January to March the sea freezes in some parts of the Baltic Sea which presents challenges to marine traffic. In some cases, ships have to deviate routes as there can be solid ice that cannot be broken by icebreakers. Passenger ships are most affected by the winter season but cargo is also clearly affected. Fishing vessels, on the contrary, seem to increase their activity during winter. Number of ships Roughly half of the IMO ships travelling the Baltic Sea (48%) are in the category “cargo”- general cargo ships (Figure 1.5). Fig. 1.5: Number of IMO ships traveling in the Baltic Sea in 2016 to be updated AIS has been obligatory for ships larger than 300 GT on international voyages since early 2005. The number of ships in the AIS dataset seem to be increasing in all ship types from 2006 but this can be due to the fact that more ships carry AIS transmitters. The technology has become more affordable and due to its usefulness in collision avoidance is also attractive for those ships that are not obliged by IMO to carry an AIS device. The number of tugs and other smaller vessels not required to carry AIS, included in the category “Other “, and has particularly increased in recent years (Figure 1.6). Fig. 1.6: Number of IMO ships in the Baltic Sea since 2006 Size The amount of larger ships, especially tankers and container vessels, in the Baltic Sea has increased dramatically. The number of ships over 75 000 GT has grown from 115 in 2006 to 203 in 2016 (Figure 1.7).