Total freight transport by inland modes (rail, road, inland waterways and oil pipelines) in the EU27 increased by 5% in 2006 compared with 2005, reaching 2 595 billion tkm. Among the Member States, the highest increases were recorded in Greece (+42%), Hungary (+16%) and the Czech Republic (+13%), and the largest declines were observed in Cyprus (-16%), Denmark (-8%), Estonia and Ireland (both -3%).

Six Member States accounted for two thirds of total EU27 freight in 2006: Germany (517 bn tkm, +6% between 2005 and 2006), France (283 bn tkm, +3%), Spain (264 bn tkm, +3%), Italy (256 bn tkm, +4%), Poland (208 bn tkm, +11%) and the United Kingdom (206 bn tkm, +3%).

Rail most significant in the Baltic States and Sweden

The dominant freight transport mode in the EU27 in 2006 was road, accounting for 73% of the total, with rail accounting for 17%, and the remaining 10% evenly split between inland waterways and oil pipelines. In all Member States road freight transport was the dominant mode, except for Estonia (65% rail) and Latvia (54% rail). After these two Member States, Lithuania (38%) and Sweden (36%) recorded the next highest shares of transport by rail.

Apart from Cyprus and Malta, Ireland (99%), Greece (98%), Portugal (95%) and Spain (92%) registered the highest shares of road freight transport in 2006.

Inland waterways accounted for significant shares of freight transport in the Netherlands (31%), Belgium (14%), Germany (12%) and Romania (10%). The highest shares for oil pipelines were observed in Denmark (17%) and Slovakia (15%).

Road and rail transport both up by 5%

EU27 road freight transport increased by 5% between 2005 and 2006, to reach 1 887 bn tkm. The Member States with the highest increases were Greece (+43%), Latvia (+28%), Hungary (+21%) and the Czech Republic (+16%). On the other hand, Cyprus (-16%), Denmark (-9%), Finland (-7%) and Estonia (-5%) registered the largest decreases.

Rail freight transport in the EU27 also increased by 5% between 2005 and 2006, to reach 435 bn tkm. The highest increases were observed in Finland (+14%), Luxembourg (+13%), Hungary (+12%) and Austria (+11%), while Ireland (-32%), Latvia (-15%) and Romania (-5%) recorded the largest decreases.