Latest truck traffic data from Germany: changes again

Latest truck traffic data from Germany: changes again

trans.info — 2024-09-20

Land transportation

The Federal Office for Mobility and Logistics has published the German toll statistics for August 2024. Heavy goods traffic, excluding recently tolled vehicles, is once again recording declines after a temporary increase.

After a rebound in July 2024, truck traffic on German roads is stabilising. The total mileage of heavy goods vehicles subject to tolls in Germany, i.e. vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, decreased by 0.2% compared to the same month last year.

With around 1.94 bn kilometres, German lorries maintained the same haulage levels in Germany as in the previous year. Polish trucks, with approximately 592 m kilometres, recorded a 2.9% lower result than last year. Lithuanian vehicles, on the other hand, covered 120.7 m kilometres, showing an increase of 1.4% compared to the same period last year.

By contrast, excluding vehicles between 3.5 tonnes and 7.5 tonnes, which have been subject to tolls for less than three months, truck traffic shrank by 4%. German trucks recorded a 4.3%decline, Polish trucks a 4.9% decline, while Lithuanian trucks increased their mileage by 0.5% compared to August 2023.

As a reminder, all truck mileage in Germany increased by 10.3% year-on-year in July 2024. However, July was the first month when charges were extended to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. Nonetheless, in the seventh month of this year, trucks over 7.5 tonnes drove 7% more kilometres on our neighbour’s roads – German trucks by 7.4% year-on-year, Polish trucks by 5.1%, and Lithuanian trucks by 6.9%.

First eight months

Between January and August 2024, the total mileage of all heavy goods vehicles subject to tolls in Germany amounted to around 26.7 bn kilometres, which is 0.2% more than the previous year. Trucks from Germany drove 0.4% more kilometres during this period. Polish trucks, however, recorded a slight decrease of 0.3%, with a mileage of around 5.05 bn kilometres, reducing their share of total mileage from nearly 19% (in the period from January to July 2024) to 18.9%.

On the other hand, Lithuanian trucks, which drove approximately 980 m kilometres in Germany during the first eight months, improved their results from last year by 5.6%. The share of Lithuanian trucks on German roads remains at 3.66%.