Last year, 278 million tonnes of goods were transported by road with vehicles registered in Belgium, according to data from Statbel, Belgium’s statistics agency. This is a 1.4% increase compared to 2020 for the number of tonnes transported and a 4.9% increase for the number of tonne-kilometres.
Compared to 2019, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the total tonnage transported decreased by 2%, while the number of tonne-kilometres increased by 3.9%.
For domestic road haulage, total cargo weight increased by 1.8% compared to the year before and decreased by 1.8% compared to 2019. For international transport, decreases amounted to 0.2% and 2.8% respectively.
The share of international transport (19%) versus domestic transport (81%) remained constant.
73% of road transport in Belgium was on behalf of third parties, via transport companies. This figure is up 4.6% compared to 2020 and 2.5% compared to 2019. The transport of first-hand transport of goods has reduced 12.5% over the last two years.
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Belgium also relies upon its network of inland waterways to reduce the burden on internal goods transport. In the first quarter of 2022, vessels transported 42.6 million tonnes of goods on Belgium’s waterways, up 9% compared to the same period last year.
Flanders heavily relies on its inland waterways for shipping goods. 80% of all companies in Flanders are located fewer than 10 kilometres from a navigable waterway and many canals have been significantly improved to allow the passage of ships with a maximum capacity of up to 6,000 tonnes.
