Road freight transport in the European Union (EU) fell by 3.2% in 2023 compared to 2022, according to data published by the European statistical office, Eurostat. Thus, during 2023, 1,857 million tonne-kilometres of freight were transported by road in the EU, compared to 1,919 million tonne-kilometres transported in 2022.
Over the past year, freight transport has seen a decline in all quarters compared to the same periods in 2022: -2.3% in the first quarter compared to the same quarter in 2022, -3.6% in the second quarter, -3.8% in the third quarter and -3.1% in the fourth quarter. In these last two quarters of 2023, transport fell to 2019 levels.
Eurostat recalls that after a period of “some instability” in the first and second quarters of 2020, due to COVID-related restrictions, road transport increased in 2021 and remained “relatively stable” in 2022.
Compared to 2022, the largest declines in tonne-kilometres of road freight transport in 2023 occurred in Portugal (-16.4%), Slovakia (-16.2%) and Sweden (-11.5%). The largest increases, however, occurred in Lithuania (17.3%), Denmark (8.2%) and Cyprus (7.8%).
The largest volume of goods was transported between Germany and the Netherlands, which registered shipments of 83.3 million tonnes, followed by the route between Germany and Poland, which moved 69.2 million tonnes, and the flow between Belgium and France, which reached 53.8 million tonnes.
The route between Spain and France is in fifth place with 49.97 million tonnes and the flow between Spain and Portugal in eleventh place with 22.6 million tonnes transported.
2024-08-08 07:00:41
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