Less international road haulage in 2020

© CBS/Alrik Swagerman
In 2020, Dutch road hauliers transported 686 million tonnes of freight, 0.4 percent less than in 2019. The last time the volume of transported goods decreased was in 2014. Last year’s decline was due to less international road haulage. The volume of goods carried within the Netherlands did increase. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on the basis of newly released figures.

Total weight transported within the Netherlands rose by 0.2 percent to 561 million tonnes last year. The bulk - 82 percent - is domestic road haulage. International road transport declined from 129 million tonnes in 2019 to slightly over 125 million tonnes in 2020, i.e. by 2.7-percent.

Weight of goods carried by Dutch hauliers
jaarChange (year-on-year % change)
2014-0.4
20150.3
20162.3
20171.5
20182.1
20191.3
2020-0.4

More agricultural and food products

Agricultural goods and other food products constitute 30 percent of the weight transported by Dutch lorries. In 2020, this type of transport was up by 3.0 percent year-on-year. The carriage of sand, gravel and building materials combined (accounting for over one-fifth of all transported goods) rose by 2.6 percent. Transport of petroleum products and fertilisers increased as well. Transport of goods such as ores, steel, chemicals and general cargo declined by 4.6 percent last year.

Weight of goods carried by Dutch hauliers
goederen2020 (million tonnes)2019 (million tonnes)
Agricultural and food products203197
Sand, gravel and other building materials140137
Chemical products6877
Fertilisers3332
Petroleum (products) and solid mineral fuels2220
Other goods including general cargo221227

Fewer goods carried abroad

In 2020, cross-border transport to and from the Netherlands fell by 1 percent year-on-year. This decline was caused by less outbound transportation (-3.6 percent). The tonnage of freight transported to the United Kingdom decreased by 12.7 percent. To France and Belgium, it declined by 9.7 and 5.8 percent respectively. Germany, the main foreign destination in road haulage, saw an increase of 0.6 percent. The volume of goods carried into the Netherlands did increase last year, by 2.1 percent.

Weight of goods carried by Dutch hauliers by destination
losLand2020 (million tonnes)2019 (million tonnes)
Germany22.822.6
Belgium20.922.2
France4.75.2
United Kingdom1.21.4
Other countries2.82.9

Slight increase in commercial haulage

In 2020, Dutch commercial road hauliers carried over 551 million tonnes of goods, 0.2 percent more than in the previous year. 80.4 percent of the total weight carried by Dutch lorries is transported by commercial hauliers. Transport on own account - with goods transported by companies themselves - saw a decline in 2020, by 2.6 percent.