Bilateral shipping and trade

This book outlines the changes in the patterns of
bilateral shipping and trade between Finland and
Sweden from the late nineteenth century to the
present day. The convergence of per capita income
and economic structure between the Finnish and
Swedish economies together with technological
advances and greater political cooperation in the
post World War II period has led to the development
of closer maritime commercial relations between the
two countries. In particular, since the 1960s the
development of ferry services between the two
countries has been significantly influenced by the
growth of tourism as well as the expansion of
commercial freight traffic. In addition, the studies
on bilateral trade shows that the transformation of
production seen in Finland and Sweden meant that the
trade increasingly became dependent on an exchange
of products arising from matching industries. This
growing commodity trade togheter with intensified
service exchange contributed to strengthen the
economic ties between Sweden and Finland during the
post-war period.