Archive:Railways - container transport statistics
This article has been archived.
Data extracted in November 2018. Planned article update: December 2019.
Highlights
Rail transport of containers in the EU increased by 13 % between 2014 and 2017.
In 2017, 75 % of containers transported by rail in the EU were loaded with goods, the rest were empty.
Rail transport of containers, EU-28, 2014-2017
This article details on the current situation and recent developments on containers transport by railway in the European Union (EU), based on the most recent data available. This data shows that in the period 2014 to 2017, rail transport of containers in the EU increased by 13 %, with loaded containers increasing by 14 % and empty ones by 10 %.
The article is based on data collected on the basis of Regulation Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 recast of Regulation (EU) No 2016/2032.
Full article
Transport of containers by loading status
The evolution of the EU-28 containers transport by railway between 2014 and 2017 is presented in Figure 1, in TEUs, both for loaded and empty containers. Two similar trends regarding the loading status of the containers were observed. Between 2014 and 2015, the volume of loaded and unloaded containers transport increased slightly by 1.0 %, while a sharp growth was observed in 2016 compared with 2015 (+15.2 %). The rise was more pronounced for loaded containers (+16.9 %) than for empty containers (+10.3 %). After these two consecutive years of increasing trend, a decline by -2.7 % was observed in 2017, more significant for loaded containers (-3.1 %) than for empty ones (-1.4 %).
.png)
The share between loaded and empty containers is presented in Figure 2 for EU-28 and all reporting countries for which data are available. At EU-28 level, transport of loaded containers represented 75 % of all containers transported. At national level, Greece was the country with the highest share of loaded containers in 2017 (99 %). All EU Member States, except Belgium, registered shares of loaded containers of at least 60 %. The candidate countries Montenegro and Turkey also registered shares below 60 %, with 50 % and 56 %, respectively.
.png)
(% share on total TEUs)
Source: Eurostat (rail_go_contnbr)
Transport of containers by type of transport
The evolution of national and international transport of containers by rail in the EU-28 between 2014 and 2017 is presented in Figure 3.
Between 2014 and 2015, national transport of containers decreased by 1.5 %, while both international transport of containers outgoing and incoming increased. In 2015, the growth was higher for containers entering an EU country (+4.4 % compared with 2014) than for containers leaving an EU country (+2.6 % compared with 2014). In 2016, a sharp rise was observed compared with 2015 for all types of transport. The increase was largest for transport of containers leaving an EU country (+ 20.9 %), followed by transport of containers entering an EU country (+ 16.2 %) and national transport (+14.1 %). In 2017, all types of transport showed a downturn: -7.0 % for international outgoing transport, -5.3 % for international incoming transport and -2.8 % for national transport.
.png)
The distribution of the different types of containers transport is presented in Figure 4 for all reporting countries for which data are available. The share of international transport in the various countries is strongly linked to their geographical position within Europe.
Countries registering the highest share of international transport are located in key corridors within the European market. In Estonia, situated at the border between the EU and Russia, international transport of containers accounted for almost 100 % (63 % for outgoing and 36 % for incoming) of the total containers transport performance in 2017. Latvia, having a similar geographical position, was the second country with the highest share of international transport of containers (98 %), followed by Slovenia (86 %) and the Netherlands (83 %). The key import port of Rotterdam, with large sea/rail transfers of containers dispatched within the European Union, strongly influence these figures.
By contrast, countries at the periphery of the European Union or islands recorded a low share of international transport of containers by rail. Small shares are observed for the United Kingdom (1 %) and Denmark (13 %). Norway and Turkey also recorded a low percentage (both 8 %), while Montenegro did not report any international transport.
Regarding transit transport, Denmark registered the highest share in 2017, with 64 %, followed by Bulgaria (49 %). All transport of containers was transit in Montenegro. In contrast, seven EU Member States, Norway and Turkey did not report any transit transport.
When looking at national transport, the highest shares were observed in 2017 for the United Kingdom (99 %), Spain (86 %), Portugal (84 %) and Romania (79 %). Norway and Turkey also had large shares (both 92 %), In contrast, there was no national transport of containers in Latvia and Montenegro and it represented only 0.1 % in Estonia. Other countries with small shares were Greece (5 %), Hungary (6 %), Slovakia (7 %) and the Netherlands (9 %).
.png)
(% share on total TEUs)
Source: Eurostat (rail_go_contnbr)
Regarding the volume of containers in TEUs (see Table 1), national transport of containers in the EU-28 decreased by 2.8 % in 2017 compared with 2016. A more pronounced downward trend was observed for international outgoing and incoming (-7.0 % and -5.3 %, respectively).
Among the EU Member States, the highest increase in total transport of containers in volume terms (TEU) was observed for Lithuania (37.2 %) followed by Romania (+27.1 %), Poland (+23.1 %), Finland (+22.2 %) and Estonia (+17.7 %). Norway also registered a large increase of +52.8 %. In contrast, the largest drops were observed for Italy (-29.8 %), Bulgaria (-22.7 %), Hungary (-12.6 %) and the Netherlands (-10.8 %).
At country level, the largest increases in national transport of containers were observed for Hungary (+2 462.6 % from 1.6 thousand TEUs in 2016 to 41.2 thousand TEUs in 2017), Estonia (+1 060.0 % from 5 TEUs in 2016 to 58 TEUS in 2017), Bulgaria (+57.2 %) and Lithuania (+39.6 %), as well as Norway (+54.6 %). On the contrary, substantial decreases were registered in Greece (-73.5 %), Italy (-39.5 %), Slovakia (-10.1 %) and the Netherlands (-9.1 %).
For international outgoing transport of containers, the highest increase was recorded for Lithuania (+48.3 %) followed by Finland (+37.2 %), Romania (+32.7 %), Estonia (+29.8 %) and Bulgaria (+17.5 %). A large increase was also observed in Norway (+34.5 %). In contrast, Ireland registered the largest decrease (-31.3 %), followed by Portugal (-27.5 %), Italy (-22.0 %), Slovakia (-18.3 %), Denmark (-18.1 %), Hungary and the Netherlands (both -17.2 %).
For international incoming transport of containers, the highest increase was for Greece (+105.6 %) followed by Romania (+58.1 %), Lithuania (+41.4 %), Poland (+40.7 %) and Finland (+21.2 %) as well as in Norway (+22.0 %). In contrast, Denmark registered the largest decrease (-39.9 %), followed by Portugal (-31.9 %), Czechia (-27.1 %), Slovakia (-16.8 %), Italy (-15.7 %), Hungary (-11.9 %) and the Netherlands (-9.0 %).
Regarding transit transport, the highest rise was observed for Czechia (+150.1 %), Slovakia (+117.9 %) and Slovenia (+115.2 %), while the largest decreases were registered in Bulgaria (-42.3 %) and Hungary (-22.7 %).
.png)
(thousand TEUs)
Source: Eurostat (rail_go_contnbr)
Concerning the number of containers (see Table 2), the picture is quite similar as for volume for the EU-28 with decreases for national, international outgoing and incoming transport (-1.7 %, -6.3 % and -4.6 %, respectively).
At country level, the largest decrease between 2016 and 2017 was registered in Greece (-83.2 %), while the volume in TEUs slightly increased by 1.4 %. This indicates a large increase of the size of containers transported by rail in Greece. Italy also registered a large decrease in 2017 compared with 2016 (-23.0 %), following the same trend as for the volume of containers in TEUs (-29.8 %). In contrast, the highest increase among the EU Member States was observed in Lithuania (+36.1 %), followed by Romania (+25.5 %), Finland (+23.8 %), Poland (+17.2 %) and Spain (+12.7 %). Norway had an increase of 52.8% between 2016-2017.
.png)
(thousand number)
Source: Eurostat (rail_go_contnbr)
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
The figures presented in this article have been extracted from the Eurostat rail transport database. They include data on national, international and transit transport of the Member States, EFTA and Candidate countries, collected according to the Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 recast of Regulation (EU) No 2016/2032.
There is no railway in Cyprus and Malta.
- Until 2015: undertakings with a total transport performance greater than 500 million tonne-km or 200 million passenger-km.
- From 2016: undertakings with a total volume of goods transport of at least 200 million tonne-km or at least 500 000 tonnes or o total volume of passengers transport of at least 100 million passenger-km.
Railway undertakings which are below the thresholds may be included for some countries. Basic results and derived indicators (such as growth rates and shares in % of total) in the tables are rounded. However, the figures are based on the non-rounded original data. As a result, the sum of shares in % of total, as shown in the tables, is not necessarily equal to 100%. Explanatory notes for countries are available in the metadata on the Eurostat website.
Symbols
| : | not available |
| - | not applicable |
| 0 | actual zero or very negligible transport |
| c | confidential data |
Context
A number of Community legal acts dating from the 1970s and 1980s have provided basic statistical data on inland transport. Regulation 91/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council has been designed to provide the Commission, other Community Institutions and national governments with comparable, reliable, harmonised, regular and comprehensive statistical data on scale and development of the carriage of goods and passengers by rail necessary for framing, monitoring, controlling and evaluating Community policy. This is achieved by expanding certain essential aspects of the data collection previously under the Council Directive 80/1177/EEC on rail goods transport statistics.
In October 2016, Regulation (EU) No 2016/2032 of the European Parliament and of the Council, amending Regulation 91/2013, was adopted. This new Regulation entered into Force in November 2016 and provided simplification in the rail data collection.
In April 2018, Regulation (EU) No 2018/643 of the European Parliament and of the Council, recast of Regulation (EU) No 2016/2032, was adopted.
The content of this statistical article is based on data collected within the framework of Regulation (EU) No 2018/643.
Direct access to
- Transport, see:
- Railway transport (t_rail)
- Goods transport by rail (ttr00006)
- Transport, see:
- Railway transport (rail)
- Railway transport measurement - Goods (rail_go)
- Historical data (1982-2002) (rail_go_h)