Freight_Trade

Which EU countries have the highest volumes of imports and exports by road? Where are the busiest country-to-country corridors? Which transport modes are moving the most imports and exports inside the EU and between the EU and other countries? Are trends changing over time? This Intelligence Briefing breaks down modal split trends in the EU.

Goods transport is fundamental to all economies and communities. Every day, trucks, ships, trains and aeroplanes deliver food, medicine, and other goods to consumers and businesses worldwide.

Goods may use multiple modes of transport, particularly for longer journeys. This Intelligence Briefing details EU international trade volumes and values, analyses the distribution of trade flows by mode of transport.

The geographical focus of the briefing is the EU, but non-EU countries are included in the analysis to highlight transregional operations.

EU international trade¶

The EU is a major exporter and importer of goods. Its share of global exports was 14.7 % in 2021 (Eurostat). As trucks transport almost all goods at some point of their journey, studying these flows offers an insight into the scale of the EU’s international road freight market.

Intra-EU international trade¶

This analysis first focuses on trade among EU countries. The following two figures illustrate the evolution of intra-EU trade over the past decade, detailing the value of trade from the country of origin to destination in EUR, for both import and export routes. Only the eight largest national values are displayed. Total road freight volumes, as measured in tonne-kilometres, can be seen in the background of the charts (in pale blue) for added context.

Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_tott & ext_lt_intratrd) extracted on 2024-07-25

Over the past decade, Germany has been the primary destination for EU goods imports, mostly construction materials and furniture. It has also been the largest exporter to other EU countries, again largely made up of construction materials and furniture.

In 2022, France was the second largest importer of EU goods, ranking fifth in exports, while the Netherlands was the second largest exporter, ranking fifth in imports. France’s number one import is transport equipment (e.g. vehicles/vessels/aircraft), in terms of value, while the Netherlands exported more chemicals and fuels than other goods by value.

When examining the details of freight flows for Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, major import corridors emerge.

The Netherlands appears to be a key partner of all three countries. Belgium is also a significant partner of France and Germany. This is not surprising given that the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp are the busiest ports in the EU, with significantly higher annual cargo volumes than other EU ports.

In terms of export flows, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands form an intense “trade triangle”. However, Germany exhibits a more diverse mix of flows within the EU compared to the other countries.

Source: Eurostat (ds-059301) extracted on 2024-07-25

Since 2020 and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a noticeable increase in intra-EU trade. In 2021, trade volume was up by 8%, and up by 21% as measured by value. In 2022, trade volume did not increase but was up by 23% as measured by value. These increases are associated with higher levels of goods consumption, boosted by the rise of real GDP per capita in the EU after 2020: +6.1% in 2021 and +3.2% in 2022.

To supplement these figures, the following four tree maps illustrate the proportion of imports and exports for each intra-EU corridor in 2022, both in terms of value and volume.

Source: Eurostat (ds-059301) extracted on 2024-07-25

Extra-EU international trade¶

Looking at trade with non-EU countries, the next two figures portray the evolution of international trade over the past decade, by value, from country of origin to destination for import and export itineraries. Only the eight largest national values are displayed. Total road freight volumes, as measured in tonne-kilometres, can be seen in the background of the charts (in pale blue) for added context.

Source: Eurostat (road_go_ta_tott & ext_lt_intratrd) extracted on 2024-07-25

With few exceptions, the list of EU countries among the eight biggest exporters and importers is quite similar, regardless of whether trade is conducted internally or externally. However, the trend line dynamics differ.

When trading with external partners, Germany, the largest importer and exporter, is not as far ahead of other EU countries in terms of imports. On the other hand, it is significantly ahead in exports, trading twice as much in monetary terms as any other EU country. In 2022, Germany’s most imported goods, in terms of value, were chemicals, fuels and mining materials. It is the same for France and the Netherlands.

Concerning exports, transport equipment ranked highest for Germany and France, whereas the Netherlands exported more fuel and chemicals in value. Interestingly, exports to non-EU countries did not show a clear increase as it did for other forms of trade. The following sections show that this trend can be explained by the underperformance of maritime transport.

To supplement these figures, the following two tree maps illustrate the proportion of imports and exports in monetary terms for EU and non-EU corridors in 2022.

Source: Eurostat (ext_lt_intratrd) extracted on 2024-07-25

The previous section demonstrated that both imports and exports within the EU and between EU and non-EU countries have grown over the past decade in terms of value.

This section examines the distribution of these flows among various modes of transport (road, air, maritime, rail, and other forms, including pipeline, postal, inland waterway, and self-propelled).

The analysis begins with the following two graphs displaying the monetary value of imports and exports between the EU and non-EU countries by transport mode.

Source: Eurostat (ds-058213) extracted on 2024-07-25

The data above indicates that maritime transport is responsible for most international import and export flows between the EU and other countries, accounting for, on average, 50% of imports and 45% of exports by value (Tailor your analysis with the IRU Data Lab). However, the share of exports by maritime has been decreasing since 2014, to the benefit of other modes.

Road transport saw a significant increase in 2020, compensating for the decline in air and maritime transport when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted air traffic and container supplies. The year 2022 was also unique for other modes of transport, with a marked increase in the monetary value of pipeline, inland waterway and self-propelled goods transport, mostly due to the increase of energy imports resulting from the war in Ukraine.

The rate of maritime transport in extra-EU trade when measured by quantity instead of value is significant, accounting for over 70% of both import and export flows. This reinforces the importance of road transport in moving goods to and from ports.

Source: Eurostat (ds-058213) extracted on 2024-07-25

In terms of imports, pipelines have the second largest share by quantity, followed by road and rail. Prior to 2019, road and rail transported greater quantities. But then road transport experienced a significant increase.

Regarding exports, road transport has the second largest share by quantity. Exports by road underwent a sharp rise in 2020, offsetting a decline in maritime transport due to congestion and container shortage issues.

Take your analysis further. Tailor it according to your work and develop your own solutions with the IRU Data Lab.

Focusing now on internal transport flows within the EU, the graph below depicts the modal split over the past decade.

Source: Eurostat (tran_hv_ms_frmod) extracted on 2024-07-25

Road freight makes up roughly 25% of total internal EU freight volumes measured in tonne-kilometres, rising to 77% when considering only inland transport. However, these averages can be misleading when examining individual EU countries.

Countries such as Denmark and France follow the same EU mode share rankings and trends. However, landlocked nations such as Austria do not have any maritime share. Lithuania has a larger share of rail freight compared to other modes, a trend also observed in Latvia, which has experienced significant changes in mode distribution over the past decade. Until 2015, Romania maintained a more balanced split, but road transport has since increased its market share.

Source: Eurostat (tran_hv_ms_frmod) extracted on 2024-07-25

Multimodal, intermodal and combined transport¶

The previous section explored the distribution of goods among different modes of transport. These modes should not be viewed as being in competition with one another. They are often combined to reduce transport costs and emissions.

To better understand the upcoming graphs, several key definitions regarding multimodal transport are needed. “Multimodal transport” is defined as the transport of goods by at least two different modes of transport. “Intermodal transport” is a particular type of multimodal transport, whereby goods must be moved in the same volume container (ITU, intermodal transport unit, from here on referred to as “intermodal containers”) by all different modes of transport involved in the operation. Intermodal containers are standardised transport units suitable for transport by different modes of transport. Intermodal containers can be in the form of containers, swap bodies, trailers and semi-trailers. Finally, “combined transport” is an intermodal international transport operation, whereby a major part of the journey is by rail, inland waterways, or maritime, and only the initial and/or final leg is by road.

Eurostat uses “freight unitisation” as a measure for intermodal transport operations by considering the movement of containers. Freight unitisation measures the goods transported in containers and other intermodal containers as a share of the total freight transport performance by the respective mode. Therefore, the analysis of intermodal transport will be based on the transport of intermodal containers.

The graph below illustrates freight unitisation rates in different transport modes. Railway has the highest share of intermodal freight transport, followed by maritime, inland waterways and road. Over the past decade, rail freight unitisation has increased the most compared to maritime and inland waterways. Busy ports and drought could explain the poor performance of intermodal containers transported by vessels.

Source: Eurostat (tran_im_umod) extracted on 2024-07-25

The share of road freight unitisation has slightly decreased over the past decade. But it has increased in absolute tonne-kilometre value. The graph below shows intermodal transport and road freight volumes in the EU. Road freight and intermodal transport have both been increasing over the past decade. Nevertheless, as previously shown, the share of intermodal transport in road has been declining, which is explained by slower growth in intermodal transport volumes since 2021. Finally, the use of intermodal containers in the EU declined in 2022, due to the war in Ukraine.

Intermodal containers (ITUs), in Eurostat, are defined as the sum of large and other freight containers. For graphs below, data is missing for Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Malta. EU* average refers to the EU excluding these four countries.