As the only Swedish port with the capacity to cope with the very largest modern, ocean-going container ships, Gothenburg handles nearly 30% of the country's foreign trade, comprising 39 million tonnes of freight per year.

It is a combined river and coastal port and the total length of the dock is 13.1 km (8.1 mi).

[3] The primary imports are crude oil (20 million tonnes in 2013), textiles and food.

The primary exports are new vehicles (trucks, cars, buses, heavy plant), steel and paper.

There are specialised terminals for containers, ro-ro, cars, passengers (1.7 million in 2013) and oil and other energy products.