Freight traffic trends | Freight traffic trends GDP in Europe

Increasing traffic of goods between 2012 and 2021 at EU level (2%/year), with a good correlation with GDP. It has decreased since 2021 (-2%/year) and a decoupling from GDP growth (2%/year) has been observed.
At EU level, the traffic intensity (traffic per unit of GDP) has slightly increased from 2012 to 2021 (+0.5%/year), and decreased by 3.8%/year until 2023. The trend observed since 2021 is linked to a reduction in the production of heavy materials in industry (-16% for steel and paper, -11% for cement), and more generally a lower industrial activity.

In the majority of the EU MS (21), a reduction in traffic intensity has been observed since 2000, with Denmark, Hungary and Italy showing a reduction of more than 4%/year.