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Freight transport statistics - modal split

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Data extracted in February 2023.

Planned article update: 16 April 2024.

Highlights


In 2021, maritime transport accounted for more than two-thirds (67.9%) of freight transport performance in the EU, followed by road transport with close to one-quarter (24.6%).

Maritime and road transport represented 92.5% of total freight transport performance in the EU in 2021. Rail transport represented 5.4%, inland waterways 1.8% and air 0.2%.

Among the EU Member States, Lithuania had the highest share of rail transport in total freight transport in 2021, with 52.8%.

In 2021, the share of road transport in total freight transport in the EU increased by 1.7 percentage points (pp) compared with 2011. The shares of maritime freight transport (-1 pp) and rail freight transport (-0.6 pp) fell.


[[File:Modal split of freight transport_2011-2021.xlsx]]

Modal split of freight transport, EU, 2011-2021


This article analyses the relative importance of five main transport modes (maritime, road, rail, inland waterways and air) in the total freight transport in the European Union (EU). It explains how the modal split between the different transport modes is calculated and shows the importance of each mode for freight transport. It also presents the evolution of the modal split between these transport modes over time.


Full article

Modal split of freight transport in the EU

Maritime transport represented more than two-thirds of freight tonne-kilometres in the EU throughout the last decade

Maritime transport accounted for the largest share of EU freight transport performance (based on tonne-kilometres performed) among five transport modes: maritime, road, rail, inland waterways and air during the last decade. Figure 1 shows that the share of maritime freight transport reached its lowest point of the decade in 2021, at 67.9 % (5 135 billion tonne-km), after falling for three consecutive years. Most notably, there were decreases by 0.9 percentage points (pp) between 2020 and 2021 and 0.7 pp between 2019 and 2020. Maritime freight transport recorded its highest share in the last decade in 2012, with 69.8 %. Compared with 2012, the share of maritime transport was 1.9 pp lower in 2021.

vertical bar chart showing the modal split of freight transport in the EU in percentages based on tonne-kilometres. Each year of the decade from 2011 to 2021 is shown with five columns comparing the five transport modes: maritime, road, rail, inland waterways and air freight transport.
Figure 1: Modal split of freight transport, EU, 2011-2021
(%, based on tonne-kilometres)
Source: Eurostat, (tran_hv_ms_frmod)

The share of road transport in the total EU freight transport performance reached a peak of 24.6 % (1 863 billion tonne-km) in 2021, after an increase of 0.6 pp compared with 2020. Over the period 2011-2021, the share of road transport reached its lowest point in 2012, at 22.0 %.

The share of rail in the freight transport performance was relatively stable over the period 2011-2021. A peak was observed in 2011, at 6.0 %, while a low point was reached in 2020, at 5.2 %. In 2021, the share increased by 0.2 pp to reach 5.4 % (410 billion tonne-km).

The share of inland waterways in total freight transport performance was also relatively stable over the period 2011-2021. A peak was observed in 2013, at 2.3 %, while the lowest level of 1.8 % for this period was reached in 2019 and remained at this level for three consecutive years (136 billion tonne-km in 2021).

The share of air in freight transport performance lay at 0.2 % (15 billion tonne-km in 2021) during the whole period 2011-2021.

It should be kept in mind that the share of each mode of transport is calculated by dividing the tonne-kilometres performed by each mode by the tonne-kilometres performed by all five modes together. This means that an increase in the share of one mode reflects drops in the shares of other modes but may not necessarily indicate drops in transport performance (tonne-kilometres) for other modes.

Modal split of freight transport by country in 2021

Rail transport was the most important mode of transport only in Lithuania, with a share of 52.8 % in 2021

Even though the modal split between the different modes of transport does not tend to change radically from year to year at EU level, changes are sometimes more noticeable at country level. As can be seen in Figure 2, the modal split at country level varies considerably. The modal split obviously depends on the availability of a given mode. Czechia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia and the EFTA country Switzerland are landlocked countries with no coastline. Cyprus and Malta have neither railways nor navigable inland waterways. Moreover, inland waterway freight transport is applicable for only 17 of the EU Member States and the EFTA country Switzerland.

In 2021, maritime freight transport was predominant in all countries with maritime ports, with the exception of Belgium, Germany, Romania, Lithuania, Slovenia and Poland. The highest shares of maritime freight transport were observed in Portugal, with 98.1 %, followed by Cyprus (97.9 %), Greece (96.5 %) and Estonia (91.8 %). The lowest maritime freight transport shares were observed in Poland (9.5 %), Slovenia (11.4 %), Lithuania (14.2 %) and Romania (19.5 %), making maritime only the third or fourth most important mode of transport in these countries. It should be noted that these shares not only reflect the maritime freight transport occurring in the ports, but also the maritime traffic passing through the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the countries. Therefore, the geographical position and the size of the EEZ of each country influence the results. For example, the high share of Portugal is influenced by traffic passing through not only the EEZ close to the mainland but also through the EEZ around the Azores and Madeira islands.

The share of road transport was the highest in Luxembourg, at 84.2 % in 2021, followed by Czechia (76.6 %) and Poland (70.2 %). Road transport was the first or second main mode of transport in all countries except Latvia. In Latvia, the maritime freight transport share was 50.0 %, the rail freight transport share 25.9 % and the road freight transport share 22.6 %. In 2021, the lowest road freight transport shares were observed in Portugal (1.7 %), Cyprus (2.1 %), Greece (3.3 %) and Estonia (4.7 %); these were the countries where maritime transport dominated most.

Horizontal bar chart showing the modal split of freight transport in percentages based on tonne-kilometres for the year 2021. The five modes of freight transport, namely maritime, road, rail, inland waterways and air are split across a horizontal bar to total one hundred percent for the EU, individual EU Member States, and two EFTA countries, namely Norway and Switzerland.
Figure 2: Modal split of freight transport, 2021
(%, based on tonne-kilometres)
Source: Eurostat, (tran_hv_ms_frmod)

Rail transport was the most important mode of transport only in Lithuania, with a share of 52.8 % in 2021. Among the countries that also have maritime transport, other countries with a relatively high share of rail freight transport were Slovenia (29.6 %), Latvia (25.9 %), Romania (20.0 %) and Poland (19.8 %). Among the countries without maritime transport, Slovakia had the highest share of rail transport, at 31.8 %, followed by Austria (29.6 %), Hungary (26.1 %) and Czechia (22.7 %).

In 2021, the highest share of inland waterway freight transport was observed in Romania, at 19.8 %. This was still far below the 39.3 % share of road freight transport for this country, but close to the 20.0 % of rail freight transport and slightly greater than the 19.5 % of maritime freight transport. The Netherlands and Bulgaria were the two other countries with a share of inland waterway freight transport higher than 10 %, at 12.5 % and 11.7 %, respectively. The comparatively high shares of inland waterway freight transport in Bulgaria and Romania are partly explained by the extensive traffic on the Danube and partly by the 'territorialisation' of the road freight transport (more information on this adjustment is given in the Data sources section below). Among the 17 countries which report inland waterway transport, the lowest shares were observed in Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Czechia, with less than 0.1 %.

In 2021, the share of air freight transport was lower than 2 % in all countries. The highest share was recorded in Luxembourg, at 1.6 %. The lowest shares were observed in Portugal, Greece and Spain, with less than 0.1 %. The share of air transport was higher than the inland waterway freight transport share in five EU Member States (Italy, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Czechia) out of the 17 countries reporting inland waterway transport. It was also the case in the EFTA country Switzerland.

Evolution of the maritime transport share

In 2021, the share of maritime transport in the total freight transport in the EU (measured in tonne-kilometres) decreased by 1 pp compared with 2011. When looking at the evolution of the share in the total freight transport over the last decade, the shares of maritime transport remained relatively stable in most of the EU Member States (Figure 3). Only three countries saw a change of more than 5 pp (positive or negative) in 2021 compared with 2011. Latvia registered the highest growth, by 8.5 pp, followed by Estonia (+6.0 pp) in contrast to Sweden that recorded the largest drop, by 5.9 pp.

When comparing with 2020, the shares of maritime freight transport dropped in 2021 in most of the EU Member States (17 out of the 22 Member States with maritime ports) and in the EFTA country Norway. Generally, these falls were marginal. Only four countries saw their share decreasing by more than 1 pp, but still less than 3 pp. The highest drop was observed in Sweden, by 2.5 pp in contrast to the highest increase recorded in Croatia, of 0.6 pp.

Vertical bar chart showing the share of maritime freight transport in total percentages based on tonne-kilometres. For the EU, individual EU Member States and EFTA country Norway, three columns representing the percentage for each year 2011, 2020 an 2021 are shown.
Figure 3: Share of maritime in total freight transport, 2011, 2020 and 2021
(%, based on tonne-kilometres)
Source: Eurostat, (tran_hv_ms_frmod)

Evolution of the road transport share

In 2021, the share of freight transport by road in the EU (measured in tonne-kilometres) increased by 1.7 pp compared with 2011. When comparing 2021 with 2011, the share of road in total freight transport performance dropped slightly in five EU Member States (Figure 4). The largest fall was recorded in Cyprus (-1.4 pp); however, the share of road transport in Cyprus is already low (from 3.5 % in 2011 to 2.1 % in 2021). By contrast, substantial increases were observed in Latvia (+13.5 pp), Romania (+11.1 pp), Lithuania (+8.9 pp), Czechia (+7.5 pp), Slovakia (+7.3 pp), Luxembourg, Poland (both +6.6 pp) and Sweden (+5.9 pp). In the case of Sweden, the growth in the share of road freight transport corresponded exactly to the fall in the share of maritime freight transport, when comparing 2021 with 2011. For the other countries, this growth was accompanied with a more or less similar drop in the share of rail transport.

When looking at the two most recent reference years, Slovakia showed the strongest decrease in the share of road freight transport with -3.4 pp from 2020 to 2021. Only five other EU Member States and the EFTA country Switzerland registered decreases over the same period (less than 1.5 pp). By contrast, the share of road freight transport increased the most in Romania (+3.7 pp), followed by Hungary (+3.2 pp) and Bulgaria (+2.9 pp). The remaining countries registered growth of less than 2.5 pp.

Vertical bar chart showing the share of total road freight transport in percentages based on tonne-kilometres. For the EU, individual EU Member States and EFTA countries Norway and Switzerland, three columns representing the percentage for each year 2011, 2020 an 2021 are shown.
Figure 4: Share of road in total freight transport, 2011, 2020 and 2021
(%, based on tonne-kilometres)
Source: Eurostat, (tran_hv_ms_frmod)

Evolution of the rail transport share

In 2021, the share of rail transport in the EU (measured in tonne-kilometres) decreased by 0.6 pp compared with 2011. When comparing 2021 with 2011, the share of rail in total freight transport performance dropped in 16 of the 25 EU Member States that have railways, as well as in the EFTA country Switzerland (Figure 5). The highest fall was recorded in Latvia, from 48.8 % in 2011 to 25.9 % in 2021 (-22.9 pp). The decreases in the share of rail transport were noticeable also in Lithuania (-10.8 pp), Poland (-7.4 pp), Czechia (-7.1 pp), Romania (-6.9 pp), Estonia (-6.8 pp) and Slovakia (-6.0 pp). By contrast, the share of rail increased the most in Bulgaria (+1.0 pp).The remaining countries registered growths of less than 0.5 pp or remained the same.

When comparing with 2020, Hungary recorded the highest fall in 2021 (-2.7 pp), followed by Lithuania (-2.0 pp) and Latvia (-1.7 pp); the other countries that recorded a decrease registered a fall in the share of rail freight transport by less than 1 pp in contrast to the highest growth observed in Slovakia (+3.5 pp). The remaining 14 EU Member States registered growths of less than 0.5 pp or remained the same.

Vertical bar chart showing the share of total rail freight transport in percentages based on tonne-kilometres. For the EU, individual EU Member States and EFTA countries Norway and Switzerland, three columns representing the percentage for each year 2011, 2020 an 2021 are shown.
Figure 5: Share of rail in total freight transport, 2011, 2020 and 2021
(%, based on tonne-kilometres)
Source: Eurostat, (tran_hv_ms_frmod)

Evolution of the inland waterway transport share

When comparing 2021 with 2011, the share of inland waterways in total freight transport performance dropped in 11 of the 17 EU Member States for which this mode of transport is applicable (Figure 6). The largest fall was recorded in Luxembourg, by -3.2 pp, followed by Belgium (-2.0 pp) and Germany (-1.5 pp). The other countries with a decrease registered a loss of less than a 1.5 pp. By contrast, there were slight increases for just two EU Member States over the same period: Slovakia (+0.7 pp) and Finland (+0.1 pp). The shares for the rest of countries for which data are available for both 2011 and 2021 remained unchanged.

When comparing with 2020, Romania registered the highest decrease in the share of inland waterway freight transport in 2021, by -2.6 pp. Six other EU Member States recorded a slight fall, each of them by less than 2.0 pp. By contrast, in three EU Member States the shares increased slightly, by less than 0.5 pp. The shares for the seven remaining countries stayed unchanged.

Vertical bar chart showing the share of total inland waterway freight transport in percentages based on tonne-kilometres. For the EU, individual EU Member States and EFTA country Switzerland, three columns representing the percentage for each year 2011, 2020 an 2021 are shown.
Figure 6: Share of inland waterways in total freight transport, 2011, 2020 and 2021
(%, based on tonne-kilometres)
Source: Eurostat, (tran_hv_ms_frmod)

Evolution of the air transport share

The share of air in total freight transport performance was quite stable in all countries in 2021 compared with 2011 (Figure 7). The highest increases were recorded in Latvia, by 0.9 pp and Luxembourg, by 0.6 pp. The eight other EU Member States with a positive trend registered a growth of less than 0.5 pp. By contrast, there was a slight decrease for seven EU Member States over the same period, all lower than 0.5 pp. The shares for the rest of the countries remained unchanged. However, in all EU Member States, the share of air transport remained at a low level.

Between 2020 and 2021, the shares remained unchanged in 12 EU Member States and in the EFTA country Norway. In 11 EU Member States and the EFTA country Switzerland, there was a slight increase by 0.1 pp while in Latvia and Lithuania, the growth was by 0.3 pp. Only Slovenia registered a slight fall by 0.1 pp.

Vertical bar chart showing the share of total air freight transport in percentages based on tonne-kilometres. For the EU, individual EU Member States and EFTA country Switzerland, three columns representing the percentage for each year 2011, 2020 an 2021 are shown.
Figure 7: Share of air in total freight transport, 2011, 2020 and 2021
(%, based on tonne-kilometres)
Source: Eurostat, (tran_hv_ms_frmod)

Data sources

The sources for the statistics in this article are from Eurostat. Statistical data have been reported to Eurostat by EU Member States in the framework of various EU legal acts. The essential legal acts are the following:

This article also includes data for transport modes from two EFTA countries Norway and Switzerland. Iceland and Liechtenstein (for Liechtenstein since 2013) are both granted derogations for road freight transport.

According to Regulation (EU) No 70/2012 on statistical returns in respect of the carriage of goods by road, Malta is granted derogation from reporting road freight data to Eurostat. Thus data on modal split for Malta are not available; however, maritime and air transport data are included in the EU aggregates.

Modal split is defined as the percentage of each mode of transport in the total transport performance measured in tonne-kilometres. Transport performance follows the 'territoriality principle', meaning that only freight performed within the territory of a country is considered. Thus Eurostat applied certain adjustments for road, maritime and air transport.

Adjustment of road freight data according to the 'territoriality principle'

Road freight transport, and particularly the part of international (including cross-trade) transport, needed to be 'territorialised' as it is reported by the countries on the basis of the nationality of the haulier, not on the basis of where the transport was carried out. For example, a haulier from the Netherlands might undertake a journey to Portugal. Though only a small part of this journey is in the Netherlands, the entire transport performance is accounted for by the Netherlands, as the vehicle carrying out the transport is registered there.

In order to calculate modal split shares on the basis of coherent data sets, as rail and inland waterways follow the 'territoriality principle', the international road freight transport data have been redistributed according to the national territories where the transport actually took place. This redistribution involved modelling the likely journey itinerary and projecting it on the European road network. The international road freight journeys' tonne-kilometres have been taken from the 'Tables on transport operations at regional level', computed by Eurostat on the basis of the detailed national survey data. Eurostat does not disseminate these tables but provides them to the reporting countries. There is a time lag before these tables become available due to the necessary data redistribution. Furthermore, the territorialisation of international road freight data makes sense only when the datasets of all reporting countries have been received and validated.

In order to redistribute the tonne-kilometre data proportionally to the countries concerned by the journey, the TERCET tool (territorial typologies) has been used. This tool allows the calculation of the total distance between the region of origin NUTS level 3 and the region of destination NUTS level 3 and breaks down the total distance into sections according to the countries in which this transport took place. With the help of this tool, the distances driven on the territories of the individual countries were calculated and the declared tonne-kilometres were proportionally attributed to the countries concerned.

More information on the territorialised road freight tonne-kilometres can be found in the relevant metadata on Eurostat website, here.

Calculation of tonne-kilometres for air and maritime freight transport

Within the framework of the relevant legal act, Eurostat collects maritime data of goods transported in tonnes between port pairs (port of loading and port of unloading). Nevertheless, these data cover only defined 'main ports', i.e. ports handling more than one million tonnes of goods annually. In order to calculate transport performance in tonne-kilometres for maritime transport, Eurostat has developed a distance matrix on the basis of the most likely sea routes taken by vessels. The distance matrix also contains segments of the port-to-port routes, based on the distance performed in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of the countries crossed. This allows the calculation of passenger-km and tonne-km; when the distance between two ports is known (input in the matrix) and the number of passengers or the volume of the freight forwarded on this route is reported, the transport performance (tonne-km and passenger-km) can easily be calculated. The calculated 'territorialised' maritime transport performance is a concept intended to be used only for comparing the transport modes' activity at the EU or at country level for the purpose of modal split. More information can be found in the relevant metadata on Eurostat website, here.


Similarly to maritime transport, Eurostat collects air transport data of cargo (expressed in tonnes) forwarded between airport pairs according to the relevant legal act. The legal act defines categories of airports according to the passenger units handled per year. Passenger unit is equivalent to either one passenger or 100 kilograms of freight and mail. Three datasets are defined according to different concepts: 'Flight Stage', 'On Flight Origin Destination', 'Airport'. Air transport data used for the calculation of tonne-kilometres are based on the 'Flight Stage' concept. Air transport, as analysed in this article, covers transport to and from any airport in the reporting countries with more than 150 000 passenger units annually. In order to calculate transport performance in tonne-kilometres for air transport, Eurostat uses a distance matrix that contains great circle distances (minimum distance on a spherical line) between airport pairs. The distance matrix contains as well a so-called 'territorialisation tool' that allows attributing the calculated tonne-kilometres to the countries overflown on the route. The distance for each country is based on its national airspace, which includes territorial waters of 12 nautical miles off its coast. The calculated 'territorialised' air transport performance is a concept intended to be used only for comparing the transport modes' activity at the EU or at country level for the purpose of modal split. More information can be found in the relevant metadata on Eurostat website, here.

Definitions of terms used within transport statistics are available in the transport glossary and in the 'Glossary for transport statistics - 5th edition - 2019'.

Context

Transport is an important sector of the European Union (EU) economy and plays a vital role in today's mobile society. Transportation and mobility are also central to sustainable development. Sustainable transportation can enhance economic growth and improve accessibility while respecting the environment and improving resilience of cities, urban-rural linkages and productivity of rural areas. The transport policy of the EU aims to foster clean, safe and efficient transport, underpinning the internal market for goods and the right of citizens to travel freely throughout the EU.

The main aspects of the EU transport policy are laid down in the White Paper "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area — Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system". Its objective is to establish a sustainable transport sector that continues to serve the needs of the economy and the citizens while meeting future constraints: oil scarcity, growing congestion and the need to cut CO2 and pollutant emissions in order to improve air quality particularly in cities.

Moreover, the Commission adopted the European Green Deal setting a strategic framework for a climate-neutral EU economy by 2050. Priority actions of the Green Deal for a shift to sustainable and smart mobility include boosting multimodal transport, support the deployment of automated and connected mobility solutions across modes, better addressing external costs of transport activities through pricing, ramping up the production and deployment of sustainable alternative transport fuels and reducing pollution from transport, especially in cities.

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Multimodal data (tran)
Modal split of transport (tran_hv_ms)
Volume of transport relative to GDP (tran_hv)
Road transport (road)
Territorialised road freight transport (road_tert)
Maritime transport (mar)
Maritime transport performance (mar_tp)
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Railway transport measurement – goods (rail_go)
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Inland waterways transport measurement – goods (iww_go)

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