BAG: Development of freight traffic remains stable
BAG: Development of freight traffic remains stable
In addition to road freight, rail freight in particular will return to a growth path, with combined transport leading the way.
According to the BAG, road freight traffic decreased the past few years
© Photo: Daniel Reinhardt/dpa/picture-alliance
According to the latest Moving Average Forecast – Summer 2022 – freight traffic in Germany will remain roughly at the previous year’s level in 2022 and 2023 despite the economic slowdown. As a result of an expected economic recovery, an overall modal increase of 1.5 percent (freight transport volume) and 2.2 percent (freight transport performance) is expected again for 2024. In addition to road freight, rail freight in particular will return to a growth path, with combined transport leading the way.
Road freight traffic down
The truck traffic of German and foreign companies is recorded statistically in different ways. The empirical framework is provided by the official road freight transport statistics, because these record both traffic parameters, such as mileage or trip relations, and information on the load, such as the type and volume of the load. According to this survey, conducted by the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the volume of German trucks transported in the first pandemic year of 2020 decreased by 2.7 percent and output by 1.8 percent. In line with the course of the pandemic, the decline took place primarily in the second and third quarters.
This trend also shaped the rates of change in 2021. Here, a noticeable decline in the first quarter (4%) compared with the still largely pandemic-free prior-year period and an equally strong increase in the second quarter (5%) compared with the lockdown months of 2020 roughly offset each other. In the second half of the year, the increasingly severe supply bottlenecks observed in many sectors of the economy were clearly already making themselves felt, with the result that volumes fell by a good 1% compared with the still subdued prior-year period. This resulted in a slight decrease of 0.4% for the year as a whole. Output volume posted a slight increase of 0.8 percent