In 2024, the volume of goods transported by road in the EU, measured in tonnes, declined by 0.7% compared with 2023. However, since 2020, the number of tonnes carried grew at an average annual rate of 0.1%.
The largest product group transported in terms of tonnes was ‘metal ores, mining and quarrying products’, accounting for 3.01 billion tonnes, or 23.0% of the EU total. This was followed by ‘food products, beverages and tobacco’ (1.59 billion tonnes; 12.2%), and ‘other non-metallic mineral products’ (1.56 billion tonnes; 11.9%).
In terms of road freight transport performance measured in tonne-kilometres (tkm), total EU performance in 2024 was 0.7% higher than in 2023.
The leading category of goods was ‘food products, beverages and tobacco’, accounting for 312.2 billion tkm, a 16.7% share of the EU total. This was followed by ‘grouped goods: a mixture of types of goods transported together’ (236.5 billion tkm; 12.7%) and ‘agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing products’ (207.6 billion tkm; 11.1%).
Source dataset: road_go_ta_tg
Transport of dangerous goods in the EU
Regarding the share of dangerous goods (for example flammable liquids, toxic substances and explosive substances) in total road transport performance, Finland recorded the highest shares at 8.4%, ahead of Belgium (6.4%) and Denmark (5.6%). Lithuania, Portugal and Slovakia were the only countries with shares below 2.0% in both 2023 and 2024.
Source datasets: road_go_ta_dg and road_go_ta_tott
Over the period 2020-2024, 15 EU countries registered positive average annual growth rate in the transport of dangerous goods. The highest positive rates were recorded in Bulgaria (+13.0% per year on average), Romania (+9.6%) and Lithuania (+8.1%). At the other end of the scale, the largest decreases over this period were registered in Portugal (-11.6% per year on average), Croatia (-11.3%), Cyprus (-11.2%) and Luxembourg (-10.8%).