Economic situation reduces volume of freight traffic, increases passenger traffic
The economic downturn and the Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine have a clear impact on road traffic volumes in Finland. During the last quarter of 2023, there were notably fewer heavy-duty vehicles on highways and main roads than a year earlier. In rail traffic, the volume of freight was also lower than the previous year. On the other hand, the volume of passenger cars and air traffic grew. All these insights were gleaned from Traffic Management Company Fintraffic’s statistics for October–December.
"The slow economic situation has clearly reduced freight on the roads and railways. A positive note is that passenger transport has continued to grow in the various modes of transport. The increase in passenger traffic is also reflected in the clear growth of users in Fintraffic’s digital travel facilitation services. In the fourth quarter, we had up to one million users visit our services. Our determined efforts to develop our services and open data continue," says Fintraffic CEO Pia Julin.
Road transport
The traffic volumes on highways and main roads in October–December were generally at a similar level compared to the previous year. The number of light-duty vehicles (passenger cars and vans) has increased by about one per cent from the same period in the previous year. The number of heavy-duty vehicles has decreased by roughly four per cent.
According to preliminary data, in comparison to 2022, traffic volumes increased by more than two per cent throughout the year, which was due to an increase of about three per cent in passenger cars. In 2023, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and the economic downturn were reflected in the volume of heavy traffic, which decreased by slightly under five per cent compared to the previous year.
In comparison to traffic volumes prior to COVID (2019), there were over five per cent fewer vehicles on our highways in 2023.
Rail traffic
The volume of freight on the railways fell considerably in the fourth quarter, which is 11.5% less compared to the previous year. The volume of freight traffic was influenced by factors such as the a downturn of the industrial cycle and the decrease in border traffic. The volume of border traffic had already fallen in 2022 due to Russia's war of aggression, but the decline continued in 2023.
On the other hand, the number of long-distance passenger trains has continued to grow, and in the fourth quarter of the year, that number was almost five per cent higher compared to 2022. The number of commuter services decreased by over three per cent. The factors behind this were, among others, track work, reduced train traffic on public holidays on weekdays, and the protest in December, which halted train traffic completely.
Train punctuality is 91.2 per cent (88.1%, 2022) in commuter services, 82.1 per cent (84.1%) in long-distance services and 90.5 per cent (88.5%) in rail freight. Punctuality in commuter services is based on, for example, a fairly mild early winter, as well as preparedness and response to disruptions. On the other hand, punctuality of the long-distance services has been speed-limited by track works, among other things. An individual incident on the railways can play a major role, as evidenced by the derailment of freight trains in the Tampere passenger railway yard, which contributed to disruptions in the punctuality of rail services. Punctuality has particularly improved in Southeast Finland, as track equipment has been replaced.
There is a slight increase in the number of track works. In the period examined, the number of track works was 44,040 (43,943). For example, the number of track works in the Tampere control area was 4.5 per cent higher than in the same period last year. The number of track works in 2023 as a whole was over 160,000.
Air traffic
In 2023, air navigation adapted to the new normal. Compared to before the pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression (2019), the total volume of air traffic in Finland had declined by roughly one fifth. Air traffic picked up slightly towards the end of the year.
"The popularity of the winter season in Lapland resulted in a growth of air traffic volume towards the end of the year. The increase in overflights by Chinese and Middle Eastern airlines in Finnish airspace also contributed to this growth. Overall, the number of overflights increased by 11%. The number of flights between Russia and Kaliningrad has remained roughly the same compared to the same time last year. In order to maintain aviation safety over the Baltic Sea, we provide air navigation services for these flights," says Raine Luojus, Managing Director of Air Navigation at Fintraffic.
Traffic data
Fintraffic's digital services were of interest to citizens in the fourth quarter - all together, Fintraffic's digital services saw a total of about one million visits. The monthly peak, 463,000, was reached in December. This figure is approximately three times that of a typical summer month.
Our data is used more and more to develop other operators’ applications and services. Between October and December, almost 1.3 billion interface calls were made to the open traffic data interfaces provided by Fintraffic. During the corresponding period, 1.2 billion calls were made. The amount of shared data grew, especially in rail traffic. During the corresponding period, approximately 3.79 billion interface calls were made for public transport travel data in the Digitransit platform.
