Around two-thirds (67.0%) of all freight transport performed (in tonne-kilometres) within the EU territory in 2024 was by sea. Road freight transport accounted for 25.7%, while rail transport represented 5.4% of all transport performed. Inland waterways accounted for 1.7% and the share of air transport was 0.2%.

Compared with 2014, the share of maritime transport decreased slightly by 2.5 percentage points (pp), while road transport was the only mode with an increasing share, rising by 3.3 pp. Rail transport registered a decline of 0.3 pp, inland waterways of 0.5 pp and there was no change for air transport. 

This information comes from data on the modal split of freight transport published by Eurostat today. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on freight transport – modal split.

Modal split of freight transport in the EU, 2014 and 2014. Bar chart - Click below to see full dataset.

Source dataset: tran_hv_ms_frmod

Maritime was the main mode of freight transport for 15 out of the 22 EU countries with coastline whereas in 9 countries it accounted for more than 70% of freight transport. A total of 14 countries saw a decline compared with a decade ago. Finland (-12.4 pp), Sweden (-11.2 pp) and Romania (-7.2 pp) reported the biggest drops compared with 2014. 

Meanwhile, road freight transport was the main mode of freight transport in 11 countries in 2024. Over the past 10 years, 21 countries reported an increase in this share. The highest increases were observed in Lithuania (+22.4 pp), Latvia (+22.0 pp) and Romania (+14.8 pp). 

Share of road transport in total freight transport, 2014 and 2024. Bar chart - Click below to see full dataset.

Source dataset: tran_hv_ms_frmod