Road freight transport

statistics Statistics Explained

Data extracted in August 2018.

Planned article update: December 2019.

Road freight transport in the EU

Source : Statistics Explained (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) - 01/10/2019 1

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Road freight transport in the EU

This article presents the main trends in road freight transport in the European Union (EU) up to and including
2017. National, international, cross-trade and cabotage transport are all analysed in this article. Road freight
transport by type of goods and distance classes are also presented, as are goods moved on the national territory
of countries and country-to-country flows.

Growth in EU road freight transport for the fifth consecutive year

Cabotage and cross-trade continues to grow

In terms of tonne-kilometres (tkm) , European road freight transport increased by 4.5 % from 2016 to 2017. In
2017, the European road freight transport was the highest recorded over the last 5 years: it increased by 11.8
% from 2013 to 2017 (see Table 1 and Figure 1).

National transport in the EU, representing 63.5 % of total transport, recorded a 9.9 % increase from 2013
to 2017, while cross-trade and cabotage transport, representing 12.1 % of total transport, recorded a high and
continuous increase of 38.5 % over this period.

EU-28 national and international road freight transport, covering goods loaded and unloaded, increased from
2016 to 2017 by 3.5 % and 4.6 % respectively. Cross-trade and cabotage both recorded substantial growth, of
8.5 % and 17.1 % respectively (see Table 1).

In 2017, Poland (17.5 % of EU total tkm) reconfirmed its position as one of the most significant countries
for road transport in Europe. Lithuania (26.2 %), Cyprus (17.5 %), Greece (15.5 %) and Poland (15.3 %) were
the Member States recording the highest rise in tkm performed from 2016 to 2017, while at the other end of

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the scale, Belgium registered a substantial decline (-13.4 %), followed by Czechia (-12.0 %) and Estonia (-7.8 %).

Seven EU Member States (Spain, France, Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia) registered in-
creases in all transport types, with rises ranging between 4.4 % and 26.2 % in total transport. Croatia, Sweden
and Lithuania recorded very strong growth for cabotage. In cross-trade transport, Italy, the United Kingdom
and Ireland experienced considerable increases.

Among other countries with a large road transport industry, France, Spain and Italy saw rises ranging from
6.3 % to 7.6 %, driven by important increases in national transport, while Germany and the United Kingdom
reported decreases of 0.8 % and 0.7 % respectively, due to decreases in national or international transport.

Table 1: Road freight transport by type of transport, 2016-2017 (million tonne-kilometres)Source:

Eurostat (road_go_ta_tott)

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Figure 1: Quarterly road freight transport by type of transport, EU-28, 2013-2017 (million tonne-
kilometres)Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_tott)

Mining and quarrying products: almost a quarter of total tonnage

In terms of tonnage, European road freight transport continued to increase in 2017 for the fourth consecutive
year (2.8 % compared with 2016), reaching the highest value since 2013.

In 2017, ’metal ores and other mining and quarrying products’ was the largest product group terms of tonnage,
accounting for 3 635 million tonnes and a share of 24.8 % in terms of tonnage. Other important product groups
were ’food, beverages and tobacco’ (12.4 %), ’other non-metallic mineral products’ (11.8 %) and ’agricultural
products’ (9.0 %).

In terms of tonnage, the highest rises between 2016 and 2017 were recorded for ’coal, lignite, crude petroleum
and natural gas’ (15.4 %), ’textiles, textile products, leather and leather products’ (10.9 %) and ’grouped goods’
(7.1 %). ’Machinery and equipment’ (4.4 %) saw the highest decrease over the same period, after several con-
secutive increases in the previous years.

In 2017, ’food products, beverages and tobacco’ dominated the transport when measured in tonne-kilometres,
accounting for 329 billion tkm (see Table 2). The share of ’food products, beverages and tobacco’ in the total
road freight transport in tkm was 17.2 %, followed by ’agricultural products’ (10.8 %), ’grouped goods’ (10.3
%) and ’other non metallic mineral products’ (7.7 %).

In terms of tkm, the highest rises between 2016 and 2017 were for ’coal and lignite; crude petroleum and
natural gas’ (12.5 %), ’grouped goods’ (10.1 %) and ’other non-metallic mineral products’ (8.6 %), while a
decrease was registered for ’wood and products of wood and cork’ (2.1 %) and ’machinery and equipment’ (1.6
%).

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Table 2: Road freight transport by group of goods (NST 2007), EU-28, 2013-2017 (thousand
tonnes and million tkm)Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_tg)

Distance 150 to1 999 km recorded the highest rises

In 2017, 6.6 % of goods travelled over distances less than 50 km and 4.3 % travelled over distances more than
2 000 km (see Table 3). However, the bulk of road transport activity was carried out over distances between
50 km and 1 999 km, accounting for 89.1 % of the total. A more important consideration for policy purposes
is that 57.4 % of freight volumes were carried out over distances of more than 300 km.

Figure 2 shows the trends in road freight transport for broad distance classes since 2013. In 2014, all dis-
tance classes increased, with one exception - for the distance class from 300 to 999 km, while in 2015 and
2016 there were decreases in the very long distances (2 000 km or more). In 2017, transport in all distance
classes continued their growth, with the highest growth recorded over the long distances from 999 to 1 999 km.
Although the longest distance class (2 000 km or more) increased in 2017, it was still below the level recorded
in 2013.

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Figure 2: Road freight transport by distance class, EU-28, 2013-2017 (based on tonne-kilometres,
2013=100)Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_dctg)

Table 3 shows the changes in tonne-kilometres transported by distance classes between 2013 and 2017 for the
EU-28 and individual Member States. Transport in Greece, Spain, Lithuania and Romania recorded growth
in tkm for all distance classes between 2013 and 2017. Transport in Greece, Lithuania and Romania increased
more for distances over 300 km, while Belgium registered decreases in transport for almost all distance classes
(except for the class from 150 to 299 km). Among the Member States with major transport industries, Poland
recorded a decrease in transport for the longest distances of 2 000 km or more, while increases occurred in the
short ones. In Germany and the Netherlands, road freight transport decreased over long distances (over 500 km
and 300 km respectively) and increases over shorter distances.

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Table 3: Road freight transport by distance class, 2017 (million tonne-kilometres)Source: Euro-
stat (road_go_ta_dctg)

Table 4 shows road freight transport by type of goods in 2017, measured in tonnes, split between movements
of 300 km or more and movements less than 300 km. The largest change from 2016 to 2017 in longer distance
transport for a specific product group was a 25.7 % rise for ’mining and quarrying products’. For the shorter
distance transport, the categories of goods recording the highest increases were ’coal, lignite, crude petroleum
and natural gas’ (16.0 %) and ’textiles, textile products, leather and leather products’ (12.6 %). In contrast,
there was a 5.3 % decrease in transport of ’machinery and equipment’ over the shorter distances. The markedly
different trends for the shorter and longer journeys for the product group ’mining and quarrying products’ stood
out. The 25.7 % rise for the longer distances stood in contrast to the 4.1 % rise for the shorter journeys, by far
the highest difference between shorter and longer journeys among the main product groups.

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Table 4: Road freight transport by distance class and group of goods (NST 2007), EU-28, 2013-
2017 (thousand tonnes)Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_dctg)

High performance by Polish third party hauliers

In term of transport of goods in the national territory, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Poland
continued to dominate European road transport in 2017, measured in tonnes. These countries accounted for
60.1 % of the total goods transported in the Member States of the European Union, with the goods transported
in Germany representing 21.7 % of the total (see Figure 3). Considering international transport (i.e. goods
entering and leaving the country, including cross-trade), the pattern did not change much over the last years.
Goods movements in Germany remained the highest, ahead of France, the Netherlands and Belgium with its
large North Sea ports. Thereafter followed Poland, Italy and Spain. Austria and Czechia recorded more inter-
national road transport than the United Kingdom.

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Figure 3: Transport of goods on countries’ territory by type of transport, 2017 (mil-
lion tonnes)Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_tott), (road_go_ia_ugtt), (road_go_ia_lgtt),
(road_go_cta_gtt)

At the more detailed level of country-to-country transport flows (seeTable 5), the four non-EU states Switzer-
land, Norway, Russia and Turkey were important trading partners. Switzerland’s traffic was with Germany
(23.4 % of the total extra-EU transport), France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands, while
Norway had links with Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Russia transported goods mainly with Poland and
Turkey with Bulgaria.

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Table 5: Main country-to-country flows in extra EU-28 road freight transport, 2017 (mil-
lion tonnes)Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_tott), (road_go_ia_ugtt), (road_go_ia_lgtt),
(road_go_cta_gtt)

Table 6 shows share of transport performed by haulier origin for the main intra-EU country-to-country flows.
Germany is one of the two origin/destination countries in half of the top 20 country-to-country flows, illustrat-
ing the central role of Germany in intra-EU trade flows. However, German hauliers’ share of the total volumes
transported was less than half in most bilateral flows, with as little as 3.1 % in the bilateral traffic between
Germany and Poland. German hauliers recorded the highest share in transport between Germany and Denmark
(57.5 %) and between Germany and Luxembourg (53.9 %)

The share of third country hauliers in country-to-country transport varied substantially. Third country hauliers
carried 58.2 % of the total volume transported between Germany and Italy, 55.7 % for Austria/Italy and 55.0
% for Belgium/Germany. At the other end of the scale, only 1.1 % of the road freight transported between
Spain and Portugal was carried by hauliers from third countries, with even lower shares of hauliers from other
countries in the bilateral flows between Czechia and Poland (0.9 %) and between Germany and Poland (0.6 %).

Polish hauliers were the main third country hauliers in country-to-country transport of goods presented in
Table 6.

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Table 6: Main country-to-country flows in intra EU-28 road freight transport, 2017 (mil-
lion tonnes)Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_tott), (road_go_ia_ugtt), (road_go_ia_lgtt),
(road_go_cta_gtt)

Source data for tables and graphs

• Road freight transport statistics

Data sources
Croatia : While Croatia had no obligation prior to their accession in 2013, it started to report data for the
reference year 2008.

Malta : Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 does not apply to Malta, so long as the number of Maltese-registered
goods road transport vehicles licensed to engage in international transport does not exceed 400 vehicles.

Finland : National and international surveys have been harmonised and follow a common methodology from
Q1 2011 onwards, leading to a break in time series in 2011.

Sweden : A break in series was produced in 2014 following a change in methodology. On the basis of a
specific survey, Sweden corrected the European road freight survey results for trucks participating to the sam-
ple which were not in use over the surveyed period.

Liechtenstein : Liechtenstein reports only international road freight transport. Starting with the reference
year 2014, Liechtenstein is exempted from the reporting of road freight data.

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EU-28 totals calculated in this publication refer to road freight transport reported by the EU-28 Member
States excluding Malta which is currently exempted from reporting road freight statistics.

Total transport

Total transport includes national transport, international transport of goods loaded in the reporting coun-
tries, international transport of goods unloaded in the reporting countries, cross-trade and cabotage transport.

National transport

Road transport between two places (a place of loading and a place of unloading) located in the same country
by a vehicle registered in that country.

International transport loaded and unloaded

International transport as presented in this publication is based on goods loaded and unloaded in the re-
porting Member States. Each reporting country reports all activities of a road motor vehicle inside and outside
its national territory. There is thus no risk of double counting at European level.

Breakdown by goods groups

Starting with the reference year 2008, Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 establishes NST 2007 as the sole clas-
sification for goods carried in road freight transport. For detailed information on the NST 2007 classification,
please refer to ’ Ramon ’, Eurostat’s Metadata Server.

Transport by distance class

Eurostat disseminates road freight transport according to the following distance classes: less than 50 km;
50-149 km; 150-299 km; 300-499 km; 500-999 km; 1 000-1 999 km; 2 000-5 999 km; over 6 000 km.More detailed
data and metadata are available in the Eurostat dissemination database .

Goods entering a country

The volume of goods entering a country is the sum of international transport and cross-trade unloaded in
the country by hauliers from all reporting countries.

Goods leaving a country

The volume of goods leaving a country is the sum of international transport and cross-trade loaded in the
country by hauliers from all reporting countries.

Figure 3

This Figure presents volumes moved on the territory of each country if there is loading or unloading of the
goods. Transit where neither loading nor unloading takes place in the crossed country, is not included in this
figure. The weight of goods in international transport is accounted for both in the country of loading and in
the country of unloading. The weight of goods in national transport is accounted for only once.

Data availability : The figures presented in this publication have been extracted from Eurostat’s free dissem-
ination database and reflect the state of data availability on 15/08/2018.

In this article :
• 1 billion = 1 000 000 000
• "- "not applicable
• ": "not available

• "c" confidential

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Context
Data presented in this publication were collected in the framework of Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 on statistical
returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road (recast). These data are based on sample surveys carried
out in the reporting countries, i.e. EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland, and record the road goods
transport undertaken by vehicles registered in these countries.

Reporting countries use their own national surveys for the collection of data based on returns from road hauliers.
The results are microdata referring to vehicles and their linked journeys providing detailed information on goods
transported. At the European level, common aggregation procedures have been used that might diverge from
national practices. Therefore differences might occur between the figures in this publication and national values.
For the distinction between national and international transport, journey information is used at the European
level, which might cause differences in corresponding values from those countries that are using goods informa-
tion for these statistics.

Other articles
• All articles on freight transport
• Road freight transport statistics - cabotage

Main tables
• Transport , see:

Road transport (t_road)

Database
• Transport , see:

Road transport (road)

Road freight transport measurement (road_go)

Dedicated section
• Transport

Publications
• Decline in European road freight transport in 2011 reflecting the economic climate - Statistics in focus
38/2012
• Energy, transport and environment indicators - 2017 edition - Statistical book
• Illustrated glossary for transport statistics - 4th edition - Methodologies and working papers
• Methodologies used in surveys of road freight transport in Member States, EFTA and Candidate Countries
- Revised, 2017 edition - Manuals and guidelines
• Road freight transport methodology - Revised edition, August 2017 - Manuals and guidelines

Methodology
• Road freight transport measurement (ESMS metadata file)

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Legislation
• Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 of 18 January 2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods
by road (recast)

• Regulation (EC) No 1304/2007 of 7 November 2007 amending Directive 95/64, Regulation (EC) No
1172/98, Regulations (EC) No 91/2003 and (EC) No 1365/2006 with respect to the establishment of NST
2007 as the unique classification for transported goods in certain transport modes

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