Brussels – The volume of goods transported by road in the European Union has increased. According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, in 2025, 1,886 billion tonnes-kilometres were moved by road, up 0.9 per cent from the previous year. The total weight of goods transported was 13.3 billion tonnes, marking an increase of 1.8 per cent from 2024.
The figures show that Poland recorded the highest volume of goods transported by road, at 381.0 billion tonne-kilometres, accounting for 20.2 per cent of the EU total. Germany came second with 277.4 billion (14.7 per cent of the EU total), followed by Spain (272.6 billion; 14.5 per cent), France (172.9 billion; 9.2 per cent), and Italy (161.7 billion; 8.6 per cent). Taken together, the figures for these five countries accounted for 67.1 per cent of the EU total.
Eurostat points out that in 2025 “The overall distribution of EU road freight transport activity, measured in tonne-kilometres, remained broadly stable.” In particular, most goods were transported domestically (62.2 per cent), while international transport stood at 24.4 per cent. Cross-trade – international road transport between two different countries carried out by a motor vehicle registered in a third country – stood at 10.7 per cent, and cabotage – road transport carried out by a motor vehicle registered in one country travelling within the territory of another country – at 2.7 per cent. Compared with 2024, domestic transport increased by 2.2 per cent, whilst international transport rose by 0.3 per cent. Cross-trade and cabotage fell by 3.7 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.
As regards road freight flows between different EU countries, the largest volume of goods was transported between Germany and the Netherlands, totalling 86.9 million tonnes. In second place was the Germany–Poland route (68.4 million tonnes), followed by Belgium–France (55.9 million tonnes). Germany was the point of origin or destination for six of the top ten EU road freight flows.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
