In 2023, Poland solidified its status as one of the most significant nations for road transport within Europe, accounting for 20.3 percent of the total ton-kilometers reported, according to a recent Eurostat report. Trucks traveling between Poland and Germany transported the second-largest volume of goods within the EU.
Eurostat’s data highlights Poland’s continued prominence in road transport, with German and Spanish haulers following with 15.4 percent and 14.2 percent of total ton-kilometers, respectively. Polish carriers remain vital in shipping goods between other EU member states. For the top 20 intra-EU transport links, Polish trucks dominated on 13 routes. Among the remaining seven routes with the highest volumes, Poland was either the starting or the destination country in four.
Despite maintaining the lead, the Polish road transport sector noted a slight decline in 2023 compared to the previous year, nearly 377 billion ton-kilometers, down from over 385 billion ton-kilometers in 2022. Eurostat pointed out that 2022 saw a general increase in road transport across Europe, a rebound following the pandemic downturn.
Germany plays a crucial role in intra-Union road freight, with the largest goods volume transported between Germany and the Netherlands, totaling 83.3 million tons. The flow between Germany and Poland was the second highest at 69.2 million tons. Germany figured in over half of the largest flows between EU states (8 out of 15).
While Germany leads in the volume of goods movement within the EU, this does not translate to dominance in their transport sector outcomes. In 2023, German carriers handled just under 50 percent of the goods imported to or exported from Germany. Furthermore, German trucks were responsible for only 3.5 percent of the goods transported between Poland and Germany, with Polish carriers handling 95 percent of these transports, followed by Lithuanian trucks.
