COVID-19 – Predicting The Effects on The European Road Freight Market

European road freight market could face 21% drop for the big 5 due to COVID-19 If lock down measures were to continue in the UK, Italy, Spain, France and Germany for most of 2020, we could experience a drop of over 20% in freight levels for the big 5 European countries. If the lockdown is relaxed over the summer, we could still be looking at over a 5% fall in the road freight market to and from these countries. The situation has been made worse by checks at most intra-European border crossings as individual EU states impose movement restrictions. A desire also to repatriate Eastern European drivers to their home states has seen a shortage of equipment in many countries. Larger European hauliers have been hit hard by the sudden closure of nearly all the OEMs, first and second tier automotive companies in the UK and Europe. Fleets have had to be dramatically rationalised to keep costs in check. The problem we foresee is with the gradual re-starting of different European economies. Will there be sufficient capacity in the haulage system to cope with spikes in demand at different times and in different countries as their economies start to return to pre COVID-19 levels? Only time will tell. With our vast database of European hauliers, we are well placed to source trailers at short notice. Send your European enquiries to ops@espaceglobalfreight.com and we’ll get back to you with a price and availability.

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