Third quarter 2020 shows significant recovery – the transport backlog is being cleared across Europe

When calculating the freight entries from all 44 European countries covered by the barometer, there were 111 percent more freight offers than in the previous quarter (Q3 compared to Q2 2020). This represents an increase of 17 percent as compared to the same quarter in 2019 (Q3 2020 compared to Q3 2019). September was the busiest month, with 10 million freight offers within a single month for the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, beating even the best numbers recorded in 2019 – also for the month of September – by 26 percent. “This certainly has to do with the comparatively low infection rate during the summer months, and the need to clear the backlog experienced after lockdowns in many European countries,” reports Gunnar Gburek, TIMOCOM’s Company Spokesman. For example, Italy, which was particularly hard hit by the crisis, ended their extremely strict lockdown in June, with Spain also lifting its state of emergency at the end of June. Factories closed down completely across almost all of Europe, but are, for the most part, open once again.

One million more freight offers within Germany

Barta Tamás, Country Manager

The rise in freight is also obvious when viewing the internal German market. Within Germany, the logistics industry is making up for lost time and exceeded the previous year’s numbers without exception: in the third quarter of 2020, over one million more freight offers were entered into our system than in the same period in 2019. There was an exponential increase in offers when compared to the second quarter of 2020. The increase in each month was as follows: July 3 percent, August 17 percent, September 73 percent. France’s national logistics traffic also experienced a recovery. The amount of freight in the third quarter of 2020 grew by more than 12 percent per month.

International transports on the rise

There is also a noticeable upward trend in international cargo traffic. For example, freight offers for transport from Germany to France rose sharply in comparison to the previous year and Q2 2020, despite the coronavirus. Up to 72 percent. The same is true for freight from Germany to Belgium. There were increases of at least 30 percent in all three months. The concrete numbers from Germany to France: July 72 percent, August 35 percent, September 34 percent; from Germany to Belgium: July 30 percent, August 60 percent, September 65 percent.

Even those at the back of the pack are recovering

Traditionally weaker countries are also experiencing an increase in freight. The pressing need to clear up the backlog caused by coronavirus restrictions across Europe is obvious even when looking at those countries that have experienced an overall drop in the amount of freight as compared to 2019. Despite the negative numbers when comparing 2020 with the previous year, these countries also experienced significant improvements during the third quarter. For example, freight from Germany to Hungary: July -44 percent, August -34 percent, September -16 percent. Or from Germany to the Czech Republic: July -41 percent, August -8 percent, September -3 percent.

The FreightTech company TIMOCOM has been using the transport barometer since 2009 to analyse the development of transport offers and demand across 44 European countries as recorded by the freight exchange, which is integrated into the Smart Logistics System. More than 135,000 users generate up to 750,000 international freight and vehicle space offers daily. The system helps over 45,000 TIMOCOM customers to meet their logistics goals smartly, safely and simply.

Find more information on TIMOCOM at www.timocom.co.uk.