During 2014 the Port of Gothenburg reported a rise in car exports and a fall in oil volumes. This can be seen in the Port of Gothenburg volume report which will be released today, the company said in its press release.
One-third of Sweden's foreign trade passes through the Port of Gothenburg, which is the largest port in Scandinavia. Car and passenger volumes rose during 2014 while container traffic and energy products fell.
The port reported a two per cent year-on-year rise in car volumes. In total, 166,000 cars were imported or exported via the port.
"2014 was a strong year for car sales in Sweden and it was also a good year for Volvo Cars. Both these factors contributed to an upturn in car volumes passing through the port," said Magnus Kårestedt, Port of Gothenburg Chief Executive.
Around one-fifth of all cars that enter or leave Sweden do so via the Port of Gothenburg. Apart from Volvo cars, Nissan, Renault and Ford cars are also handled.
Almost 60 per cent of all containers that enter or leave Sweden are shipped via the Port of Gothenburg although container traffic in 2014 was down three per cent on 2013. A total of 837,000 containers (TEU*) were handled.
The Port of Gothenburg has several direct ro-ro services to the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark and Belgium. This traffic category improved during the spring before falling back slightly during the autumn. Volumes remained on more or less the same level as 2014 at approximately 549,000 units.
Half of Sweden's crude oil is imported via the Port of Gothenburg. It is then processed into petrol, diesel and a range of other energy products at the three refineries.
Oil and energy products slumped by six per cent in 2014. The year began with low refinery margins and a weak storage market but towards the end flows had increased thanks to improved refinery margins and a stronger storage market in the wake of plummeting oil prices. 19.2 million tonnes of oil and energy products were handled during 2014.
1.8 million people chose to travel to or from the Port of Gothenburg during 2014, eight per cent up on the previous year. Stena Line accounts for the majority of the passenger volumes with its daily services to Frederikshavn and Kiel. The number of cruise tourists also increased significantly – 108,000 visitors arrived at the Port of Gothenburg in 2014 compared with 47,000 in 2013.