2018 European RFT ranking

The West bounces back

After a short spell at the top of the ranking in 2017, Poland lost ground in 2018 and Germany regained its position as leader of the European RFT sector. Other flags in Eastern Europe suffered the same fate as their Polish counterparts. Conversely, the Western flags have made gains, reversing the trend observed over the past fifteen years. Spain, France and Italy performed well thanks to strong increases in their domestic activity. The Spanish flag also managed to make gains internationally (up +5.8%), particularly in terms of bilateral activity.

Growth in overall domestic activity across all flags slowed down (+2.0% in 2018 versus +3.6% in 2017), while international RFT was down -2.8%. All international RFT sub-categories were affected. For the first time since 2010, cross-trade RFT and cabotage in Europe fell sharply, with most of the Eastern European flags declining.

You may find the data and additional explanations in the European RFT Ranking 2018 available for download.