The Finnish Transport Agency is tasked with most of the maintenance and development of Finland’s network of waterways. Approximately 8,200 kilometres of coastal fairways and 8,000 kilometres of inland waterways are maintained by the Agency. The total length, some 16,200 kilometres, includes 3,900 kilometres of fairways used for merchant shipping.

Finland has a total of around 19,500 kilometres of public, charted fairways marked by more than 33,000 maritime aids to navigation (lighthouses, buoys, signs, leading beacons, etc.); the Finnish Transport Agency is responsible for around 25,000 of these. In addition to the Saimaa canal, which connects the Saimaa watercourse to the sea, the waterway network includes 31 other lock canals.

Fairway maintenance services take account of the navigation needs of merchant shipping and other waterborne traffic. Their operations focus on maintenance of the fairway network.

The costs of fairway maintenance and ice breaking related to coastal merchant shipping are covered by fairway dues.