Austrian road freight falls to its lowest level since 2016
The volume of goods carried on Austrian roads fell 0.6% to 549.4 million tonnes in 2025, its lowest level since 2016 and the fourth consecutive annual decline. Domestic freight contracted even as cross-border arrivals and departures grew. Tonnage carried by foreign-registered vehicles also increased.
Economics & Markets··Evening
Freight tonnage declines for a fourth year
Statistics Austria’s figures released on October 12 show 549.4 million tonnes of goods moved on Austrian roads in 2025. That was 0.6% below the previous year and the lowest volume since 2016. The total covers all goods vehicles on Austrian roads. The drop extended the tonnage decline to a fourth consecutive year. The figures concern completed 2025 activity, not freight already carried during 2026.[1], [2]
Transport performance is a separate measure that also includes the distance freight travels within Austria. It fell 0.9% to 52.9 billion tonne-kilometres. The 0.6% decline in tonnage and the 0.9% fall in distance-weighted performance thus describe different aspects of the same transport activity. Tonnes alone do not show how far a load was carried.[1]
Domestic freight falls as cross-border traffic grows
Domestic road freight fell 2.5% to 340.5 million tonnes. Transit tonnage was almost unchanged at 76.4 million tonnes. Cross-border arrivals rose 4.3% to 68.2 million tonnes, while departures from Austria increased 4.2% to 64.3 million tonnes. The breakdown shows that the decline in the national total was uneven across transport categories, with domestic freight supplying the clearest fall.[1]
Transit transport performance rose 1.6% to 18.4 billion tonne-kilometres and was the only category to register an increase on that measure. Transit tonnage, meanwhile, was almost unchanged. The contrast reflects the different questions answered by freight weight and freight multiplied by distance. Statistics Austria published both breakdowns for the road network.[1]
Foreign-registered vehicles carry more freight
Austrian-registered goods vehicles carried 352.6 million tonnes, down 2.7% from a year earlier. Foreign-registered vehicles carried 196.8 million tonnes, up 3.3%. Domestic vehicles accounted for 64.2% of tonnage and foreign vehicles 35.8%. Freight on foreign-registered vehicles therefore grew despite the decline in the total, illustrating the different movement of the two vehicle groups.[1]
Foreign-registered vehicles accounted for 64.9% of distance-weighted transport performance. Statistics Austria linked that larger share to longer journeys and transit traffic. The estimates combine company statistics, freight data and motorway toll information; prior-year comparisons include revisions. The total covers goods carried by both domestic and foreign-registered vehicles.[1]
