European Road Freight Transport Activity Ranking 2017

Poland takes the top spot

After emerging from the crisis in 2015, European RFT recorded another year of strong growth in 2017 (+4.6 %) and finally exceeded its pre-2008 crisis level. The growth in domestic activity was maintained at +3.6 %. The international activity was almost as good as in the previous year, with sustained growth of +6.5 %, unequally distributed between EU15 with +1.81 % and New Member States, +9.56 %. All international sub-activities grew strongly, but the top performer was cabotage, one-year growth rate of nearly +17 %. France saw 40 times more cabotage carried out by other flags than it carried out itself, an all-time record within the EU.

Strikingly, Poland achieved a breakthrough of more than +15 % growth in one year, propelling the country’s sector to number 1 in Europe, thus dethroning the long-standing leader, Germany. 2017 was also a good year for the major flags in the South, such as Spain, Italy and France, which ended the year up respectively +,6.5 %, +7.6 % and +6.26 % thanks, in particular, to their domestic market. Germany fell by -0.83 % due to the significant decline in its international activity (-5.9 %).

You may find the data and additional explanations in the European RFT Ranking 2017 available for download.