17/03/2023 09:23
In 2021, maritime transport accounted for more than two-thirds (68%, 5 135 billion tonne-km; tkm) of the EU’s freight transport, the lowest share recorded in the past decade according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU.
Road transport accounted for a quarter (25%, 1 863 billion tkm), while rail (5%, 410 billion tkm), inland waterway (2%, 136 billion tkm) and air (0.2%, 15 billion tkm) transport each accounted for small shares of freight transport.
A tonne-kilometre, abbreviated as tkm, is a unit of measure of freight transport which represents the transport of one tonne of goods by a given transport mode (road, rail, air, sea, inland waterways, pipeline etc.) over a distance of one kilometre.
Maritime freight transport dominated in Cyprus accounting for 97.8% in 2021. Road and air transport follow with minimal shares of 2.1% and 0.1%.
Maritime transport is the main transport mode for freight in Cyprus throughout at least the past decade. The lowest share recorded during this period was 96% in 2011 and the highest was 98% in 2015, while road transport had their peak so far in 2011 (3.5%) and their lowest point in 2015 (1.8%). Air transport has had a low share over the past ten years, staying at 0.1%.
In the EU, the share of maritime transport decreased slightly compared with 2020 (-1 percentage point; pp). It decreased more significantly compared with the year recording the highest share in the last decade, which was 2012 (-2 pp).
Meanwhile, the share of road transport in 2021 reached the highest share recorded in the past decade. It increased slightly compared with 2020 (+1 pp) and increased more significantly compared with the year recording the lowest share in the last decade, which was 2012 (+3 pp).
The share of rail transport also slightly increased in 2021 compared with 2020 (+0.2 pp) but remained lower compared with the year recording the highest share in the last decade, which was 2011 (-1 pp).
Inland waterway transport has remained stable since 2018, but slightly lower than the peak recorded in 2013 (-1 pp).
Air had the smallest share in freight transport and remained at 0.2% in the last decade.
Maritime was the main mode of freight transport for 15 EU members (out of 22 with a coastline) in 2021 and accounted for more than 70% of freight transport in 10 countries.
Meanwhile, road transport was the main mode of freight transport for 10 EU members and accounted for more than 70% in three countries: Luxembourg (84%), Czechia (77%) and Poland (70%).
Rail freight transport was the main mode for only one country: Lithuania (53%).