Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Shipping in the Baltic Author(s): Gunnar Alexandersson Reviewed work(s): Source: Ambio, Vol. 9, No. 3/4, The Baltic: A Special Issue (1980), pp. 158-162 Published by: Springer on behalf of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4312562 . Accessed: 03/03/2012 00:04

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http://www.jstor.org Shlippingin the Balti

BY GUNNAR ALEXANDERSSON

Shippingin the Baltic is not as importantas it was duringthe days of the Vikingsor the Hanseatic League,but the tonnage accounted for by shipping has increasedgreatly since the mid-1 9th century. On an average day, about 700 ships plus an equal numberof fishing vessels are at sea in the Baltic. The authorconcludes that internationalagreements to control pollution from ship- ping should be easier to enforce as vessels become larger,fewer and techni- cally more sophisticated,but he warnsabout the continuingproblem of pollu- tion from legions of small pleasure craft.

Shippingin the Baltic holds a less prom- inent position in world trade today than it did in the days of the Vikings or the HanseaticLeague, or when the Dutch and the British ruled the waves and their navies and merchant marines were sup- plied with hemp, flax, naval stores, bar iron and guns from the Baltic lands. The IndustrialRevolution led to a rapid in- crease in tonnage shipped over the Baltic, with wood products,Russian grain (4) and Swedish iron ore going out and British coal coming in. It also meant a decline in relative importancefor the , as the raw materials of the transocean countries became accessible to the in- dustrial core of northwestern Europe through the revolution in transports. Technical changes in sea transportwere rapid in the hundred years before 1950, but they have followed an even steeper curve since.

STRUCTURALCHANGES The volume in tons and the work in ton- kilometersaccounted for by shippinghave The Neptune Shipyards in Rostock, German Democratic Republic(GDR). increased greatly since the mid-19th Photo: Pressens Bild. century. Ships have increased in size and speed, and have become more specialized, but they have been declining in number.These general trends in world shippingare difficult to quantify for the 237 000 were accounted for by six ferry initiallya ship duty, but later a load tariff Baltic Sea. An indication:the tonnage of ports in the southernmost province of was added and the ships then had to be the Swedish merchant marine, primarily Skane: , Malmo, Limhamn, checked for their cargo. engaged in deep-sea cross-trading, was Landskrona,Trelleborg and Ystad. In English the generic word Sound is seven times largerin 1975than at the turn Shipping through the Baltic Straits is used for this waterway, an indicationof its of the century but it engaged only one- better documented than similar traffic importancein former centuries (the Ro- fifthas many vessels. The numberof ves- elsewhere in the world because of the mans had a similar word for the Strait of sels (excluding ferries) in domestic and Sound Dues collected by be- Messina). However, the Sound is very foreign traffic calling at Swedish ports tween 1429and 1857(Figure 1). Most traf- shallow south of a line from reacheda maximumin the late 1930s.The fic by far moved the shortestway from the to Malmo and as the size of ships has 437000 vessels entered and cleared in North Sea to the Baltic through the increased the has become the Swedish ports in 1975 were somewhat Oresund, where dues were collected at leading passage for through traffic. The fewer than in 1939, but no less than KronborgCastle near Helsing0r.This was narrow and winding has a

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thresholddepth of 13 m. However, cur- Klint and near the Fehmarn Belt. Sea- ships plus as many fishing vessels are at rents are strongand a bridgecompleted in sonal or temporary patrol vessels check sea in the Baltic on an average day. Over 1935limits traffic to vessels with less than trafficat the Skaw and at the Baltic end of 100 ships per day pass on either side of 33 m clearance. The 17 meters transit- the Kiel Canal. Gotland (Figure 2). Some 95 vessels per routefrom Skagento Gedser, NE through On an average day 150commercial ves- day enter the Sound from the northand 80 the Great Belt established by the Danish sels enter or leave the Baltic throughthe from the south. The Kiel Canal clears 150 Government,Route T, has its depth re- Straits and the Kiel Canal. About one- vessels a day, the Great Belt 55 and the striction between Darss in the GDR and third fly a Comecon flag. Around 700 Little Belt 25. The 100 km-long Kiel Falsterin Denmark,the Darsser Schwelle (the Darss Threshold) through which leads the Kadet Channel. The Inter-Gov- ernmentalMaritime Consultative Organi- *zation(IMCO) has issued recommenda- Figure2. Cars prepare to board the ferry at Nynashamn (Sweden) bound for the island of Gotland. Photo: Tiofoto/Bjorn Nordien. tions on navigationfor vessels over 40 000 dwt or a draughtof 13 m or more. Traffic is separatedat Sprog0 and in the Kadet Channel(6). The approaches to the Baltic-the Straitsand the Kiel Canal-are now open to shippingwithout dues, but because of I, .y.. , the strategicimportance of the area traffic W ^ .. << ' !|.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~e ;:g...... :i is closely watched by radar stations of ...... NATO, the Warsaw Pact and neutral _I_ Sweden. In a way, we are back to the _~~~~~~~T

...... ship-countinginstituted by King Erik of ,* S P ... . | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-j ...... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~...... Pomerania in 1429, but we have no breakdown of cargo categories. Perma- nent patrol vessels are kept by the WP countries south of Falsterbo, off M0ns

AMBIO, 1980 closer to the Baltic. Most of the tradewith the other Comecon countries, eg oil, naturalgas and iron ore from the USSR, moves across Poland's land borders. The Polish population and manufacturingin- dustry is concentrated far inland in an equilateral triangle with its base in the south and its apex at Warsaw. The port cities are attracting heavy industry and creating new trade flows, but still only a little more than 40 percent of Poland's foreign trade by tonnage is seaborne. Im- portant bulk flows received through the ports are grain, iron ore, phosphates and apatite, and oil, each with quantities be- tween two and six million tons. The new oil refinery at Gdan'skis served by six 150000 ton tankers that bring crude from the Gulf. They are the largest ships that enter the Baltic, the largest that can pass the thresholdat Darss. Gdynia is building 3m. Helsinkiharbor. Photo: FIgure Theinniet leaving Tiofuto/NilsJohan Norenlind. the largestcontainer terminal in Poland. The seaborne Soviet oil exports are shipped primarily via terminals in the Black Sea. In the Baltic, Ventspils in Canal, originally built for strategic the Scandinavian railroad network with Latvia dominates with 18 mt. It has a purposes accomodates vessels of 10000 that of Western Europe, have frequent branch line to the large "Friendship grt and 8 m draught, shortening the dis- ferry service. The ports of the GDR and Pipeline" that carries Soviet oil into Po- tance between the Baltic and the English Poland are less frequented by Nordic land and East Germany. Sizeable Channelby 300 nautical miles. Some 50 trucks and cars because of the generally quantities (7 mt) also move through milliontons of cargopass throughthe Kiel poorer roads and more cumbersomebor- Klaipeda in Lithuania. For other Soviet Canal and an estimated 125-150 million der control in these countries. ports, dry cargo is most important. tons throughthe straits (6). Ferries are not limited to short water Leningradis a large generalcargo port, as Shippingservices in the Baltic have be- passages with frequent service. Helsinki, well as the second-largest metropolitan come automated.All Swedish lighthouses Goteborg and Oslo have ferries to the region and the leading machine man- will soon be controlledfrom a room at the Lubeck-Kielarea. The largeferry Finnjet, ufacturingcenter in the country. Among National Board of Shipping and Naviga- powered by gas turbines, has reduced the new developments is the "land-bridge" tion at Norrkopingand will no longer be travellingtime between Helsinki (Helsing- for containersto the Far East by way of manned. The number of pilot stations is fors) and Lubeck to 22 hours (Figure 3). the TranssiberianRailway. Some contain- decreasing continuously. From the man- The principles applied to ferries are ers from the West are first shippedby sea, ned stations, pilots move by car or by fast rapidly being introduced in deep sea lin- throughLeningrad, others by rail directly pilot boats to other ports for pilotage. ers, even on the longest hauls. Roll-on- to Moscow. An improvementof the north- They are no longer called by flag but by roll-off (roro) ships are being used for the south highway through the Baltic re- radio. second generationof containervessels. publics, servingFinland's truck trade with The postwar transport revolution has The USSR and Poland have made the countries of Central Europe, is in- radically changed passenger and cargo heavy investments in dry cargo tonnage cluded in the present Five-Year Plan. It is flows in the Baltic region. Passengersand (5). The maritimeeconomy has received connected with the Helsinki-Tallinnferry generalcargo increasinglymove by air or high priority in both countries (11). The line. by ferry. Intermodalcompetition has led USSR has the largestnumber of dry cargo Riga, less remote than Leningradfrom to a declinefor liner shippingon short and vessels in the world;the roro-typeis com- Moscow and other major industrial re- medium hauls (national and intra-Euro- mon amongnew ships and ships on order. gions of the USSR(4), is rapidlybecoming pean trades), a strong expansion for pri- Soviet trade in general cargo with distant an alternativeport for general cargo, in- vate cars and trucks and a stagnationfor countries is limited; the ships are meant cludingcontainers. railroadsin Western Europe. However, for cross trading. The Soviet and Polish Traditionally,sparsely populated Swe- railroads in the centrally planned flags are becomingcommon in the general den and Finland have had many small economies retain a strong position be- cargo ports of the world. In the USSR, the ports shippingforest products(1). Numer- cause road traffic there is less developed Baltic ports compete with those of the ous sawmills and pulp and paper mills, (7). Black Sea for the general cargo trade but located at river mouths, received their the Baltic ports as a rule are more favora- logs floated down river and had their ex- FERRYTRAFFIC bly located for trade with WesternEurope port products picked up at the factory The tremendousincrease in ferry traffic, (see Figure4). quay by deep-sea liners (3). This mill-to- with a strongfocus on the short coastline mill hopping by transocean vessels was of the Federal Republicof Germany,is in BULKTRADES never popular among the shipowners, responseto the dominantrole of road traf- Bulk shipmentsin the Baltic are primarily who preferredto load in one or a few ports fic in Western Europe. Ferries act as coal from Poland, oil from the USSR, and in each country. With largerliner tonnage bridgesconnecting the road system of the iron ore from Sweden. The Polish coal some concentrationhas occurred, but by FRG with that of the Scandinavian shipments increased from 8 million tons international standards these two peninsula. The largest concentrations (mt) in 1960to 16 mt in 1970and 24 mt in countries with their long coastlines still of ferry terminals are at Lubeck- 1976, when they accounted for three- have many ports. Travemundeand Kiel. Helsingborg-Hel- fourths of Poland's seaborne exports (2). Sweden exports large amounts of iron sing0rand R0dby-Puttgarden,connecting Large new coal-fields are being opened ore, but most of it moves throughthe Nor-

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AMBIO,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 161~~~~~~~~~~...... Figure5. A cargo vessel maneuvers through the Stockholm archipelago near Vaxholm. Photo: riofoto/Nils-Johan Norenlind. wegian port of Narvik; on the Swedish phisticated. For Poland and the Soviet 2. GeoJournal2 2, 1978,World Shipping issue (arti- cles by C Wojewodkaand J Zaleski on Poland's coast there are two ore ports, Lulea and Union, where Baltic seaborne trade has a seabome trade). Oxelosund. Stockholm, the leading gen- high growth rate, control is simplifiedby 3. I Hogbom Varldssjofarten(Elinder, Goteborg, eral cargo port on the east coast and a of 1934). the exceptionally large percentage 4. I V Nikolskij Geografija Transporta SSSR leading market for oil products, poses foreign trade moved by ships under the (Geografgiz,Moscow, 1960). specialproblems with its long and winding nationalflags. The gradualconcentration 5. Ostsee-Jahrbuch 1977 Strukturwandel im Ost- seeverkehr Industrie- und Handelskammerzu harbor entrance through the archipelago of seaborne traffic to fewer ports should Lubek(data on Soviet trade,etc). (Figure5). Turku(Abo), in Finland, has a simplify the building of port installations 6. 0sters0en Sikkerhedspolitisck studiegruppe (Schultz,Copenhagen, 1979). similarkind of location. needed by ships to allow them to comply 7. Christophervon Schirach-Szmigiel,Liner Ship- Finlandand Sweden have three refinery with the Baltic Convention. ping and General Cargo Transport (EFI, Stock- ports on the Baltic-Skoldvik, Naantali holm, 1979). For the USSR, Poland, the GDR and 8. Technika i gospodarka morska, 1978, nr 4. and Nynashamn-and additional oil de- the FRG, the Baltic coastline is short in 9. Yearbook of Nordic Statistics (annual). pots in medium-sized cities along the relation to the national population. From 10. Yearbooks of shipping statistics for Denmark, Finland,Sweden and the FRG. coast. The Baltic refineries are owned by Vyborg to Flensburgthe pressure on the 11. J Zaleski& Cz Wojewodka,Europa Baltycka (Os- nationaloil companies and receive much coast for recreationalactivities is strong. solineum,Wroclaw, 1977). of their crude from the USSR (Finland This should provide popular support for importstwo-thirds of its oil from its neigh- measuresto keep the sea clean, even if the bor; Sweden also buys much Soviet oil). price tag is high. But recreation also The Nordic refineriesof the multinational creates its own shippingproblems. Sailing oil corporationsare on the approachesto and motorboatinghave long been popular the Baltic: in southern Norway, on the in Baltic waters. Pleasureboats were pre- Swedish west coast and at the Danish viously limited to the coastal people and Belts. Such refineries are located near to relativelyfew city families of wealth or Fredericia, Kalundborg and Kors0r. keen interest, but boat ownership is now Gunnar Alexandersson is professor Adjacentpower stations use the heavy oil rapidly spreading to the public at large. of international economic geography fractions and coal as fuel. From these re- This phenomenonis not covered by statis- at the Stockholm School of fineries and from units located elsewhere Economics, and author (with Goran tics. Coastal municipalities build guest Norstrom) of WorldShipping (Stock- in northwesternEurope, oil products are harbors for these boats, provided with holm, New York, 1963). He is pre- distributed throughout the Nordic sanitaryfacilities. To get all boat owners sently writing a volume on the Baltic countries via the company depots (see to accept the spirit of the Baltic Conven- Straits for a series on the Interna- Figure4). tion will require large educationalefforts tional Straits of the World, edited by by boat clubs and other organizations. Gerard J Mangone. He is also the SHIPPINGAND POLLUTIONCONTROL editor of GeoJournal 2:2, an issue de- International on the restric- voted to world shipping. His address: agreements Stockholm School of Economics, Box tion of pollution from ships should be References and Notes 6501, S-113 83 Stockholm. easier to enforce when vessels become 1. G Alexandersson & G Norstrom World Shipping larger, fewer and technically more so- (Almqvist and Wiksell Stockholm, 1963).

162 AMBIO VOL 9 NO. 3-4