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Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Methodology and quality
  3. ESMS metadata
  4. Water transport

Water transport

1. Contact
1.1. Contact organisation

Statistics Estonia

1.2. Contact organisation unit

Economic and Environmental Statistics Department

1.3. Contact name

Anu Ainsaar

1.4. Contact person function

Analyst

1.5. Contact mail address

51 Tatari Str, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia

1.6. Contact email address

anu.ainsaar [at] stat.ee

1.7. Contact phone number

37254005042

2. Metadata update
2.1. Metadata last certified

27/03/2025

2.2. Metadata last update

27/03/2025

3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description

Annual data: international ship traffic through ports by ship type and flag state data on ship visits to Estonian ports has been published (Ships are classified by ship type based on ICST-COM); transportation of sea containers through ports.

Quarterly data: international shipping traffic through ports by ship type and flag state; international passenger traffic through ports (passenger traffic data of Estonian ports); passenger transport at sea (for passenger transport by economically active Estonian sea transport companies); transportation of vehicles through ports; cargo transport through the main ports of Estonia (Types of cargo are in accordance with the recommendation of the UN Economic Commission No. 21. The main ports are defined according to the volume of cargo transport.); freight transport through ports by commodity group (Commodities are classified according to TSK2007 classification of transport statistics commodity groups).

Monthly data: loading and unloading of goods in Estonian ports.

3.2. Classification system

Estonian Classification of Economic Activities (EMTAK 2008) based on NACE Rev. 2

Maritime coastal areas (MCA)

Standard goods classification for transport statistics (NST 2007)

Nationality of vessels

Vessel Size Classes (GT)

Type of Cargo Classification

Classification of types of vessels (ICST-COM)

3.3. Sector coverage

Sea transport enterprises (NACE Rev. 2 50), Estonian sea ports.

3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

Cargo types total – transport flows with different characteristics. The principal categories of the type of cargo classification are thus Liquid Bulk, Dry Bulk, Containers, Roll-on/Roll-off, and Other Non-unitised General Cargo. This classification is related to maritime transport and cargo handling needs, and is not intended to provide a linkage to trade or other economic statistics through a product classification.

Container ship – a ship designed to carry containers

Cruise passengers coming by ship from foreign countries – total number of passengers arriving by cruise ship from abroad

Cruise ship – a passenger ship intended to provide passengers with a full tourist experience. All passengers have cabins. Facilities for entertainment aboard are included. Ships operating normal ferry services are excluded, even if some passengers treat the service as a cruise. In addition, cargo carrying vessels able to carry a very limited number of passengers with their own cabins are also excluded. Ships intended solely for day excursions are also excluded.

Dry bulk carrier – bulk/oil carrier or bulk carrier

Dry bulk goods – ores, coal, agricultural products and other dry bulk goods

Dry cargo barge – deck barge, hopper barge, lash-seabee barge, open dry cargo barge, covered dry cargo barge and other dry cargo barges

Enterprise – an enterprise consists of one or more companies (public limited company, private limited company, limited partnership, general partnership, commercial association) or branches of foreign companies or sole proprietors. Water transport statistics do not cover branches of foreign companies and sole proprietors.

Estonian vessel / foreign vessel – nationality of a vessel is determined by the country under which flag the vessel sails

Exported and imported transit containers — sea containers dispatched by the ship and transit sea containers received from the ship

Exported containers — sea containers dispatched by the ship (excl. transit containers)

Fishing vessel – a fish-catching or fish-processing vessel

Freight container — a unit of transport equipment, which is: of a permanent character and accordingly strong enough to be suitable for repeated use; specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods, by one or more mode of transport, without intermediate reloading; fitted with devices permitting its ready handling, particularly its transfer from one mode of transport to another; so designed as to be easy to fill and empty; having a length of 20 feet or more. In addition, containers should be stackable and have an internal volume of 1 m3 or more. Swap bodies are excluded.

General cargo non-specialised vessel – reefer, ro-ro passenger, ro-ro container, other ro-ro cargo, combination carrier general cargo / passenger and combination carrier general cargo / container, ship designed with a single or several decks

Gross tonnage of vessels – gross tonnage of a ship in thousands. Gross tonnage is a measure of the size of a ship determined in accordance with the provisions of the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships, 1969; a unitless entity

Imported containers — sea containers received from the ship (excl. transit containers)

Large containers – having a length of 20 feet or more. The tonnage is the gross weight of goods including packaging but excluding the tare weight of containers or ro-ro units.

Liquid bulk goods – liquefied gas, crude oil, oil products and other liquid bulk

Loading – loading of cargo on to the ship in the reporting port. Transit goods are included. The tonnage of goods carried includes packaging but excluding the tare weight of containers or ro-ro units.

Lorry and trailer – including dumpers, timber tankers, refrigerated lorries, road tankers and road tractors

Main ports – selected ports are at least those handling more than 1 million tonnes of goods annually. A statistical port consists of one or more ports, normally controlled by a single port authority or Harbour Master’s Office, able to record ship, passenger and cargo movements.

Nationality of vessel – nationality of a vessel is determined by the country under which flag the vessel sails

Number of passengers – number of passengers on board the ship. Operating staff is not considered passengers

Number of trips – number of ship’s movements from the departure port to the destination port of the voyage. The ship’s movement back-and-forth on the line is considered one voyage if the departure port and destination port is the same.

Other cargo, not elsewhere specified – forestry products iron and steel products other cargo, general

Other Ro-Ro, mobile units – unaccompanied road goods trailers and semitrailers, unaccompanied caravans and other road, agricultural and industrial trailers, ship borne port-to-port trailers, and ship borne barges engaged in goods transport, other ro-ros no self-propelled

Other vehicle – motorcycles, special cars: ambulance cars, fire engines, crane lorries

Other vessel – drilling and exploration vessel, offshore support vessel, tug, pusher craft, dredger, research or other vessel

Passengers coming from abroad – total number of passengers arriving by Estonian or foreign vessels from abroad

Passengers going to foreign countries – total number of passengers going to foreign countries by Estonian or foreign vessels

Passenger ship – a ship designed specifically to carry more than 12 fare-paying passengers whether berthed or unberthed. Cruise ships and ro-ro passenger ships are excluded.

Ro-Ro, mobile self-propelled units – road goods vehicles and accompanying trailers; passenger cars and accompanying trailers/caravans; passenger buses; import/export motor vehicles; live animals on the hoof and other Ro-Ro mobile self-propelled

Specialised vessel – a barge carrier, chemical carrier, irradiated fuel carrier, livestock carrier, vehicle carrier or other specialised vessel

Tanker / liquid bulk carrier – oil tanker, chemical tanker, liquefied gas carrier (LG tanker), pushed tanker barge / tank lighter or other liquid bulk carrier

TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) — Standard unit for counting containers of various capacities and for describing the capacities of container ships or terminals. One twenty-foot ISO container equals 1 TEU.

Transit goods – the country of loading and unloading of goods is a foreign country. Estonia is a transit country. Transit goods are also goods loaded/unloaded at the frontier of that country onto/from another mode of transport.

Transit vehicles – transport vehicles transported as transit

Trip – transport service of sea vessels rendered according to the published timetable or as often and regularly as a systematic series of voyages is formed. Ship voyage is the movement of a ship from the departure port to the destination port, which can be the same port.

Tugs – tugs and pusher craft

Unloading – unloading of cargo from the ship in the reporting port. Transit goods are included. The tonnage of goods carried includes packaging but excluding the tare weight of containers or ro-ro units.

Vehicles from foreign countries (excl. transit) – vehicles that have arrived from abroad unloaded from a vessel. Transport vehicles transported as transit are shown in the row Transit vehicles.

Vehicles inside Estonia– loading and unloading of vehicles is performed in Estonia

Vehicles to foreign countries (excl. transit) – vehicles loaded on a vessel for dispatching abroad. Transport vehicles transported as transit are shown in the row Transit vehicles.

Vessel providing offshore activities – drilling, exploration and offshore support vessel

3.5. Statistical unit

Seaport

Enterprise

3.6. Statistical population

Managers of seaports; enterprises whose main activity is water transport

FRAME

List of active enterprises whose main or secondary activity is water transport (passengers or goods transport). The list is generated from the Business Register for Statistical Purposes.

List of seaports in the port register of the Transport Board (cargo and passenger ports).

3.7. Reference area

Estonia as a whole

3.8. Time coverage

Loading and unloading of goods in Estonian ports 1991–…

Transport of goods through ports 1993–…

Transport of sea containers through ports, sea containers moving in ports 1997–…

Shipping traffic through ports, international passenger traffic through ports 2001–…

Shipping traffic through ports by type of vessel, transport of passengers by sea, transport of vehicles through ports 2005–…

Number and gross tonnage of vessels visiting Estonian ports 2005–…

Transport of goods through ports by group of goods 2009–…

Goods transport through main Estonian ports by cargo type 2010–…

3.9. Base period

Not applicable

4. Unit of measure

Vessels – number; gross tonnage – GT 1000; trips – number

Transport of passengers – number of passengers (thousand passengers)

Transport of goods – tonne, thousand tonnes, TEU, number of vehicles

5. Reference period

Year

Month

Quarter

6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements

DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 of 7 November 2007 amending Council Directive 95/64/EC, Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/98, Regulations (EC) No 91/2003 and (EC) No 1365/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council with respect to the establishment of NST 2007 as the unique classification for transported goods in certain transport modes

Regulation (EU) No 1090/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 amending Directive 2009/42/EC on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea Text with EEA relevance

Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea (Recast)

OTHER LEGAL ACTS

Commission delegated decision of 3 February 2012 amending Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea

2010/216/: Commission Decision of 14 April 2010 amending Directive 2009/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea

OTHER AGREEMENTS

Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)

International Transport Forum (ITF)

United Nations (UN)

7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality - policy

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act.

The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here.

8. Release policy
8.1. Release calendar

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

8.2. Release calendar access

Calendar

8.3. User access

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

9. Frequency of dissemination

Annual

Quarterly

Monthly

10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release

Not published

10.2. Publications

Transport statistics is also available on the websites:

https://www.stat.ee/en/find-statistics/statistics-theme/energy-and-transport/transport;

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/transport/overview;

europa.eu/pol/trans;

www.unece.org/transport;

https://data.oecd.org/energy.htm#profile-Transport

10.3. Online database

Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat under the subject area “Economy / Transport / Water transport” in the following tables:

TS154: International shipping traffic through ports by type and flag of vessel (quarterly)

TS155: International shipping traffic through ports by type and flag of vessel

TS161: International passenger transport through ports (quarters)

TS162: Transport of passengers by sea (quarters)

TS163: Transport of vehicles through ports (quarters)

TS175: Goods transport through main estonian ports by cargo type (quarters)

TS180: Transport of goods through ports by group of goods (quarters)

TS1812: Transport of sea containers through ports

TS185: Loading and unloading of goods in estonian ports (months)

10.4. Microdata access

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 33, § 34, § 35, § 36, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s procedure for dissemination of confidential data for scientific purposes.

10.5. Other

Data serve as input for statistical activities 20407 “Consumer price index”, 21408 “Supply and use tables”, 21405 "National accounts (quarter)" and 22029 “Transport of passengers and goods by transport enterprises”.

10.6. Documentation on methodology

Glossary for Transport Statistics (prepared by the Intersecretariat Working Group on Transport Statistics – Eurostat, ITF and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe)

Reference Manual for Maritime Transport Statistics

10.7. Quality documentation

Published in the Statistical Database, table TS40: Population, sample and respondents of transport enterprises.

11. Quality management
11.1. Quality assurance

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in § 7. “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

11.2. Quality assessment

Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions.

12. Relevance
12.1. User needs

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications

Ministry of Climate

Ministry of Finance

Transport Administration

12.2. User satisfaction

Since 1996, Statistics Estonia has conducted reputation and user satisfaction surveys. All results are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section User surveys.

12.3. Completeness

In compliance with the rules (regulations).

13. Accuracy and reliability
13.1. Overall accuracy

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness.

13.2. Sampling error

Not applicable

13.3. Non-sampling error

Not measured

14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness

The data are published 20 days after the end of the reference month (T + 20), three to four months after the end of the reference quarter, three months after the end of the reference year.

14.2. Punctuality

The data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability - geographical

The data are comparable to data of other European Union countries because common methodology has been used for transport statistics.

15.2. Comparability - over time

The data are comparable over time because of the common methodology used.

15.3. Coherence - cross domain

The data on freight and passenger transport volume are comparable to the same data in other activities of transport statistics.

15.4. Coherence - internal

The data are made internally coherent by using common methodology in data collection and the same rules of data aggregation.

16. Cost and burden

Total time of filling in reports of the statistical activity, hours: 363 (data for 2023)

17. Data revision
17.1. Data revision - policy

The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia.

17.2. Data revision - practice

The published data may be revised if the methodology is modified, errors are discovered, new or better data become available within a year from the end of the reference period.

18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data

SURVEY DATA

Statistics on port operations are provided by seaport managers and maritime transport companies engaged in the transport of passengers or goods by sea. Everything is observed.

ADMINISTRATIVE DATA

Ship visit data are based on the data of the Electronic Maritime Information System (EMDE) managed by the Republic of Estonian Transport Administration.

DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES

Not used

18.2. Frequency of data collection

Quarterly

Monthly

18.3. Data collection

Data are collected and the submission of questionnaires is monitored through eSTAT (the web channel for electronic data submission). The questionnaires have been designed for independent completion in eSTAT and include instructions and controls. The questionnaires and information about data submission are available on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section Questionnaires.

Data are collected with the official statistics quarterly questionnaires “Seaborne transport”, “Carriage of goods through ports”, “International passenger transport through ports”, “Shipping traffic” and monthly questionnaire “Loading-unloading”.

Data of ship visits from Electronic Maritime Information System (EMDE) managed by the Republic of Estonian Transport Administration are transmitted via X-Road.

18.4. Data validation

Arithmetic and qualitative controls are used in the validation process, including comparison with the data of previous periods and other surveys.

18.5. Data compilation

In the case of missing or unreliable data, estimate imputation based on established regulations will be used.

Variables and statistical units which were not collected but which are necessary for producing the output are calculated. New variables are calculated by applying arithmetic conversion to already existing variables. This may be done repeatedly, the derived variable may, in turn, be based on previously derived new variables.

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes aggregating the data according to the classification, and calculating various statistical measures.

The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional indicators.

18.6. Adjustment

Not applied

19. Comments

Not available

Contacts

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