Around two thirds (67.4%) of freight movement in the European Union in 2023 was undertaken by maritime transport, new data has shown.
According to the Eurostat data, road transport accounted for 25.3% of freight movement in 2023, while rail transport accounted for 5.5%.
Elsewhere, inland waterways contributed 1.6% of freight movement, and air freight contributed 0.2%.
Road movement increases share
The only mode of freight movement to increase its share over the past decade, i.e. compared to 2013, was road transport, which saw its share rise by 2.8 percentage points. Maritime transport saw a slight decline of 2 points, and both inland waterways and rail fell by 0.6 and 0.2 points, respectively.
For the 22 EU countries that boast a coastline, maritime transport was the leading mode of transport in 15 of them, with the highest percentages seen in Portugal (98.2%), Cyprus (96.5%) and Greece (96.4%).
Landlocked or land-focused countries like Luxembourg, Czechia, and Hungary, however, depended heavily on road freight, with the highest percentages seen in Luxembourg (84.5%), Czechia (77.7%) and Hungary (70.7%).
Rail transport had a stronger presence in Eastern and Central Europe, especially in Lithuania, Slovakia, Austria, and Slovenia, while Romania stood out for its use of inland waterways.
Air transport remained marginal across the EU, with Romania (1.6%), Luxembourg (1.5%), Hungary and Lithuania (1.3% each) recording the highest shares. Read more here.
