Less international road haulage in 2020

Total weight transported within the Netherlands rose by 0.2 percent to 561 million tonnes last year. The bulk - 82 percent - is domestic road haulage. International road transport declined from 129 million tonnes in 2019 to slightly over 125 million tonnes in 2020, i.e. by 2.7-percent.

More agricultural and food products

Agricultural goods and other food products constitute 30 percent of the weight transported by Dutch lorries. In 2020, this type of transport was up by 3.0 percent year-on-year. The carriage of sand, gravel and building materials combined (accounting for over one-fifth of all transported goods) rose by 2.6 percent. Transport of petroleum products and fertilisers increased as well. Transport of goods such as ores, steel, chemicals and general cargo declined by 4.6 percent last year.

Fewer goods carried abroad

In 2020, cross-border transport to and from the Netherlands fell by 1 percent year-on-year. This decline was caused by less outbound transportation (-3.6 percent). The tonnage of freight transported to the United Kingdom decreased by 12.7 percent. To France and Belgium, it declined by 9.7 and 5.8 percent respectively. Germany, the main foreign destination in road haulage, saw an increase of 0.6 percent. The volume of goods carried into the Netherlands did increase last year, by 2.1 percent.

Slight increase in commercial haulage

In 2020, Dutch commercial road hauliers carried over 551 million tonnes of goods, 0.2 percent more than in the previous year. 80.4 percent of the total weight carried by Dutch lorries is transported by commercial hauliers. Transport on own account - with goods transported by companies themselves - saw a decline in 2020, by 2.6 percent.