site.btaBulgaria Registers Highest Positive Average Annual Growth Rate in Transport of Dangerous Goods in EU

Bulgaria registered the highest positive average annual growth rate (+13% per year on average) in the transport of dangerous goods in the European Union over the period 2020-2024, show Eurostat data published on Wednesday. Dangerous goods include flammable liquids, toxic substances and explosive substances. 

A total of 15 EU countries registered positive average annual growth rate. Bulgaria was followed by Romania (+9.6%) and Lithuania (+8.1%). At the other end of the scale, the largest decreases over this period were registered in Portugal (-11.6% per year on average), Croatia (-11.3%), Cyprus (-11.2%) and Luxembourg (-10.8%).

In 2024, the volume of goods transported by road in the EU, measured in tonnes, declined by 0.7% compared with 2023. However, since 2020, the number of tonnes carried grew at an average annual rate of 0.1%. The largest product group transported in terms of tonnes was "metal ores, mining and quarrying products", accounting for 3.01 billion tonnes, or 23.0% of the EU total. This was followed by "food products, beverages and tobacco" (1.59 billion tonnes; 12.2%), and "other non-metallic mineral products" (1.56 billion tonnes; 11.9%). 

In terms of road freight transport performance measured in tonne-kilometres (tkm), total EU performance in 2024 was 0.7% higher than in 2023. The leading category of goods was "food products, beverages and tobacco", accounting for 312.2 billion tkm, a 16.7% share of the EU total. This was followed by "grouped goods: a mixture of types of goods transported together" (236.5 billion tkm; 12.7%) and "agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing products" (207.6 billion tkm; 11.1%).