Combined transport in Europe recorded a decline in the last quarter of 2023 19/02/24
< Back to listAuthor: Łukasz Kuś
Combined transport in Europe recorded a decline in the last quarter of 2023
Combined transport in Europe in the fourth quarter of 2023 recorded a worse result by 11.1% compared to the last quarter of 2022, informed the International Union of Combined Transport by Road and Rail.
The last quarter of last year was the fifth in a row when the UIRR index was negative. However, the decline was smaller than in the third quarter. Many factors contributed to the deterioration of combined transport performance in Europe. In addition to the weaker economic situation in trade and industry, accidents that closed tunnels in the Alps on important international freight routes to traffic, as well as numerous traffic restrictions due to planned modernization works, contributed to this. At the same time, the sentiment indicator in the combined transport industry was described as "slightly negative".
— The year 2023 has brought a convergent series of negative events for combined transport in the form of natural disasters, major derailments, extensive network-wide works coinciding with extreme weather events and strikes. The grim situation has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, disruptions to container shipping in the Red Sea, and poor economic performance in Europe and weak consumer confidence. The situation has been made worse by the upward trend in rail traction costs, driven by persistently high traction electricity prices, increases in wages and track access fees, concluded Ralf-Charley Schultze, Chairman of the UIRR.
In long-term forecasts, the industry expects an increase in transport volume, which will be driven by investments in rolling stock and terminals, infrastructure modernization and the currently pending legislative changes to the EU "Green Transport" package, which are intended to encourage more enterprises to choose the offers of intermodal carriers.