Maritime Trade and Transport - HWWI

6. Perspectives of land-based transport logistics
6.1 The modal split – The path leads to the goal: The goods leave the port
6.1.1 Dominance of the road
For years, the movement of goods in Europe has been growing more quickly than the economy
as a whole. In view of globalization and the progressive integration of the Eastern European
states into the EU, this will not change in the near future. As a result, greater demands will be
made on European transport policy in the coming years. The problems surrounding its many
facets are mirrored in the development of the individual segments of merchandise transport.
At present, the modal split – that is, a breakdown into the shares of the overall movement
of goods performed by individual modes of transport – is dominated by the road. The latter
has increased its share by leaps and bounds in the past, while merchandise transport by rail and
inland waterways has stagnated or declined. Within the EU-25, the movement of goods has increased
an average of 2.8% annually in the past decade. 54 Traffic on waterways rose at about the
same rate, principally due to short sea shipping between ports on the Baltic Sea. In contrast,
transport volume on inland waterways grew by a mere 9% over the entire ten-year period.
Above-average growth was recorded by road transport (35%), while rail transport only expanded
by 6%. The largest share of traffic within the EU, about 45%, falls to the roads. The share
accounted for by the railroads is around 10%. A further 40% falls to sea transport, but only 3.5%
to inland waterways (see also Volume 1, Chapter 3.2).
In Germany, too, the rising volume of merchandise in recent years has led to differing rates
of growth for the various modes of transport. Here, unlike the EU, above-average rates were recorded
by rail transport, whose share (figures all without sea transport or cabotage) 55 expanded
by 14.5% in the past five years. According to the Federal Office for Freight Traffic56 , this was
largely due to the vigorous growth in seaport hinterland traffic. The share of road transport has
diminished to 81.6%. Inland waterway transport stagnated at 4%.
Shares of modes of merchandise
transport in the EU (2004)
Inland 10%
waterways
3,5%
Road
Fig. 11
Railroad
44,5%
39%
3%
Pipeline
Sea
Source: EU white paper.
112 Berenberg Bank · HWWI: Strategy 2030 · No. 4
54 See EU Commission (2006a).
55 Depending on the source, there are sometimes significant differences in the
measurement of the modal split. This is due to different definitions – with or
without sea transport, with or without cabotage (transport volume of foreign
companies) in transport kilometers or transport volumes.
56 See Bundesamt für Güterverkehr (2005a).