The three sub-goals of an accessible transport system, high transport quality standards and favourable regional development pertain to filling the fundamental function of transport: bridging distance.  

As yet, there is no uniform, exhaustive and easily quantifiable definition of any of the three sub-goals, but attempts have been made to define and develop indicators for shipping and other types of traffic. Rough definitions of the three sub-goals are summarised below as a basis for the goal analysis related to the maritime sector.

In the past, the sub-goal of favourable regional development was interpreted to mean that the transport system should promote opportunities for various parts of Sweden to develop, in part by eliminating inequalities and in part by counteracting the disadvantages of long transport distances. The goal was later reformulated into an accessibility goal with specified geographical dimensions: accessibility between rural areas and central towns and between regions and the rest of the world.

With regard to the sub-goal of an accessible transport system the Government has stated that safe shipping operations should be possible year-round in all significant Swedish ports and that the percentage of people with disabilities and other groups with special needs who can use maritime transport shall increase.

The sub-goal of an accessible transport system also encompasses the following aspects:

• The existence of alternative transport solutions for various types of transport demand
• Frequency of service for scheduled traffic
• The costs of transport chains
• Time expenditure in transport chains

As mentioned above, transport costs and transport time are central dimensions of the accessibility goal. The other aspects of the goal mentioned above are in one sense means of influencing time and costs. For instance, access to alternative transport options that can be adapted to varying transport needs is favourable with regard to both achieving low transport costs and cutting transport time. Frequent service keeps the “hidden waiting time” for goods and passengers down and thus reduces transport time in the transport chain as a whole.
 
Accessibility may be described and analysed as the characteristics of transport options or of actual demand in the transport market. Players in the maritime sector together create the transport services which, often interlaced with transport services offered by other traffic sectors, form the range of transport services offered by the market, with major or minor elements of maritime transport.

The Swedish Maritime Administration has developed an annual study of opportunities for people with disabilities to use the transport system and the areas people with disabilities believe should be improved. The study was conducted in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The objective of the sub-goal of high transport quality standards is successive improvement of the Swedish maritime transport system, measured in terms of predictability, safety, flexibility, convenience, accessibility and access to information.

The Government also states that Swedish fairways with high shipping traffic volume shall be hydrographically surveyed in accordance with internationally adopted standards by 2014. This goal also applies to fairways frequently navigated by vessels transporting environmentally hazardous goods and oil.

Shipping plays a particularly central role with regard to the quality of international goods transport chains for transport of both goods and passengers. Ferry and RoRo traffic are links in the road and railway systems and transport significant numbers of passenger cars along with their drivers and passengers. There is also substantial national and international maritime passenger travel with no direct connection to cars. Traffic between Gotland and the mainland is the most important maritime traffic link of this kind for passenger traffic inside Sweden.

Many players in the maritime sector – ports, stevedoring companies, freight forwarders, brokers/agents and others – have significant impact on the overall quality outcome. For that reason, a follow-up system of measurements and indicators must to a certain extent also encompass those players.