Swedish shipping falling behind

The Nordic countries' ship registries (including the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland) have collectively grown by 40 percent over the past ten years. The only country to decline is Sweden, whose registry has decreased by 31 percent. This is shown in Transportanalys’ report on the international competitiveness of Swedish shipping.
While 2022 marked a clear recovery for Swedish shipping after the pandemic, many indicators pointed downward in 2023. The number of port calls to Swedish harbors decreased, freight transport volumes declined, and passenger numbers fell. The Swedish fleet also shrank. For Swedish-registered ships, the reduction in numbers was small, but for foreign-registered, Swedish-controlled ships, the decrease was significant, according to Transportanalys. The overall decline was 10 percent. Measured in cargo capacity, the reduction for the fleet was double that.
The size of the Swedish-controlled fleet is significantly lower than before the pandemic, and over a ten-year period, a clear downward trend is evident for the Swedish fleet, both in terms of the number of ships and cargo capacity. While the registries of the two major flag states, Denmark and Norway, have grown by 98 and 22 percent, respectively, the Swedish registry has declined by 31 percent. Even the Finnish registry has grown by 26 percent.
According to the industry organization Svensk Sjöfart (Swedish Shipping), the statistics show that for many years, there has been a lack of a competitive Swedish shipping policy. Therefore, it is now urgent to take concrete measures and eliminate Swedish-specific regulations, cumbersome applications, and over-interpretations of international rules.
“If the government is serious about strengthening Swedish preparedness and ensuring that Sweden can meet the transport needs that we as a state must fulfill as a NATO member, and also ensure there are sufficient resources to maintain the most critical sea connections to Sweden, measures must be implemented promptly. A fast track is needed if we are to avoid losing more ships and missing out on several of the new builds that Swedish shipping companies have on order,” says Anders Hermansson, CEO of Svensk Sjöfart, in a press release.
In 2023, the number of onboard employees on Swedish-registered merchant ships also decreased by 10 percent (or 260 onboard employees on an average workday). The three occupational categories generally considered the core maritime competencies—captains, officers, and engineers—declined. However, it was encouraging that the number of applicants to maritime officer training programs at Swedish maritime universities, Chalmers and Linnaeus University, increased after several years of decline. For the fall term of 2024, applications were approximately 25 percent higher than the previous year, both in terms of total applicants and first-choice applicants. For marine engineering programs, the increase was entirely attributed to Chalmers, while no corresponding trend was observed for Linnaeus University.
Trafikanalys also conducted a special analysis this year of how the EU's climate package will affect shipping. In 2024, this became evident as ship emissions were phased into the EU ETS—the EU's emissions trading system—and on January 1, 2025, it will become even more pronounced when FuelEU Maritime comes into force, aiming to increase the share of low-fossil carbon fuels in shipping. The legislation makes shore power more attractive as it is defined as emission-free. The requirements are initially modest but will tighten over time.
“Our assessment is that these new regulations will increase costs for shipping but will not significantly affect the competitiveness between different modes of transport,” says Gunnar Eriksson of Transportanalyses in a press release.
Regarding research and development, Transportanalyses highlights that Swedish research is crucial for the international competitiveness of shipping, and the state's role as a research financier thereby becomes a competitive tool. In 2024, state funding amounted to a total of SEK 120 million. The Swedish Transport Administration has been tasked with funding research and development projects in the maritime sector with up to SEK 100 million per year, while Vinnova has allocated SEK 20 million for the area "Sustainable Port – System Demonstrators," aiming to contribute to funding full-scale demonstration projects of port solutions.
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