The Polish road freight transport sector - 2019

A leader in the European market, the Polish flag has been ranked first in international activity since 2007. As for total activity, Poland competes for first place with Germany. However, the changes already reported in 2017, particularly in the organization of work, are being confirmed. Polish hauliers face recruitment difficulties, as Polish drivers are gradually abandoning the profession. The latter prefer medium-distance international trips allowing them to return home every two weeks. The average annual mileage of a Polish driver decreased, from 128,000 km per year in 2017 to 126,400 km per year in 2019. Notable feature, the increase in the minimum wage of more than 6 %/year over two years. As for the variable part, it is henceforth calculated according to the number of days spent abroad with different daily travel allowances depending on the countries visited and no longer per kilometer, in accordance with European regulations. In order to retain this workforce, hauliers do not hesitate to grant the maximum amount of daily travel allowances. In summary, the cost of a driver with a Polish contract increased by +7.4 %/year on average between 2017 and 2019, for a total cost of € 23,575/year in 2019.

Always with a view to building loyalty of their drivers, companies make more use of rental contracts, including full-service for their vehicles. This financing method thus enables them to renew their fleet very regularly and to offer recent heavy goods vehicles. The driver cost is not the only one to have experienced inflation since 2017. The toll cost increased by +7.7 % compared to 2017, mainly due to a general increase in tolls in Europe and in particular the Maut in Germany, the main country of transit for the Polish flag. The cost of owning a vehicle is also affected, +10.7 % compared to 2017.

CNR invites you to discover this new study dedicated to the Polish RFT sector.