Data from 2023 reveals that Polish truckers handled 43.7% of all cabotage operations within the European Union, underscoring Poland's leading role in this activity. This information comes from a study conducted by the Romanian association Untrr based on Eurostat data. The penetration rate of cabotage in the EU rose from 4.5% in 2022 to 4.7%. Germany recorded the highest rate (10.5%), followed by Austria, Luxembourg, and Belgium. In contrast, Luxembourg saw a significant decrease, falling by 6.6 percentage points compared to 2022.
It comes as no surprise that over half of the European cabotage operations took place in Germany: 54%, up from 51.7% the previous year, totaling 26 billion tonne-kilometers. France was the second most important destination, accounting for 23.2% of the total cabotage (11.1 billion tonne-kilometers). Romania ranked third, with a 5.8% share of EU cabotage, also showing a slight increase compared to 2022. Italy also played a role in cabotage, though to a lesser extent, with 2.7 billion tonne-kilometers (equivalent to 5.5% of European cabotage).
Polish haulers carried out three-quarters of the cabotage in Germany, while Lithuanian carriers handled 13.7% of the cabotage activities in both Germany and France. Romanian carriers focused primarily on Germany and France as well, accounting for 35.9% and 22.5% of their total cabotage activities, respectively. An analysis of cabotage performance in terms of tonne-kilometers showed substantial stability in 2023, with a slight decrease to 48 billion tonne-kilometers, following a peak of 52.3 billion in 2021. Nevertheless, some nations, such as Lithuania and the Czech Republic, demonstrated notable growth rates since 2019, with an average annual increase of 5.9% and 20.4%, respectively, highlighting the sector's dynamism.
