More than 80 per cent of Finland’s foreign trade involves shipping. Finland has roughly 1,500 kilometres of coastline on the Baltic Sea and about 60 ports. Twenty-three of these are kept open 12 months a year.

The Baltic is virtually an inland sea. Its northernmost parts freeze over every winter. In a hard winter, the whole sea may freeze over. Even if the forecast global warming changes the situation, any change will come only slowly.

The vital importance of shipping and the harsh conditions of the northern Baltic Sea set special demands for the functioning of the transport chain. Finland has done its best to secure unhindered shipping throughout the year for more than a century.

Since 1971, access for shipping has been kept open with icebreakers around the year for the entire length of the coast. Alternative arrangements, such as sending all cargoes by rail and road from the north to Southern Finland and back just for the winter months, would damage the economy through the enormous costs involved.

Finland got its first icebreaker in 1890. The first icebreakers were used to assist ships to Hanko and Helsinki, the major ports of the southern coast. The fleet of nine icebreakers that Finland has today is able to keep the main ports from Hamina to Tornio open in the harshest winter.

Shipping to and from Finnish ports has expanded dramatically in the past few decades. In 1960 Finnish ports were visited annually by 19 500 cargo vessels with a total of 19 million tonnes of goods. In 2000, 36 300 ships called at Finnish ports with 81 million tonnes of cargo. Finland’s dependence on shipping has actually grown in recent decades.

Because icebreakers keep Finland’s sea lanes open, the European Union has classified them as part of its trans-European network.

Port calls in Finland 1960–2000