The financial downturn has caused signifiant drops in all activity segments, seriously affecting the global economy. Figures in transportation, one of the most important economic sectors, have plummeted leading to drops in the economy and consequently in commercial exchanges. According to Eurostat, in the EU, the rail freight transport has known a performance drop which slowed down towards the end of 2009. Thus, for EU-27, the freight traffic amounted to 366 billion tonnes-km (in 2009) which means a 17% drop compared to 2008. This drop is reflected in the impact of the crisis in the rail freight transport which experienced a continuous growth in the past years until de second quarter of 2008.
Transit transport has been most seriously affected (a 27% drop during 2008-2009) while, in national and international traffic, the decline has been less significant, with a 15% and 20% drop respectively. As a result of the financial crisis, the drop of rail transport performance (in 2008-2009) has been visible in all member states, with one exception: Estonia, who kept the transport performance high in 2009 to the same level as in 2008 (+0.1%). In what concerns the development on quarters, the situation is much better in the final quarter of 2009 (-4% compared to the same period in 2008) than in the first two quarters (-25% compared to the same period in 2008, per each quarter). The recovery is confirmed by the preliminary statistical data available for the first two quarters in 2010, showing an 8% and 14% growth respectively compared to the same quarters in 2009.
Only two countries reported a positive evolution.
Out of 27 countries, only Estonia and Norway reported a positive, although moderate evolution, in the freight transport in 2008 and 2009 (0.1% and 1.2% respectively). Despite these drop tendencies, the model to be applied nationally shows significant differences between states.
Germany has experienced a drop of 19.8 billion tonnes-km, Poland, France and Italy an 8.6, 8.4 and 6 billion tonnes-km drop. As compared to the total volume, the most severe drop among member states was seen in Bulgaria (33%). Transport performance in another 9 member states dropped by more than 20% in 2009 compared to 2008.
by Pamela Luică
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