Weak Economic Performance in October, Says Transport Market Monitor

A view at the transport market shows that economic growth in Europe remains weak, according to the latest figures released by Transport Market Monitor. The transport capacity available for road transport increased by 15 percent in October compared to September (source: www.transportmarketmonitor.com). In comparison to the previous year, available freight capacity in October was also 15 percent higher. On the other hand, transport prices fell only slightly (-1.5%). This emerges from current evaluations of the online service Transport Market Monitor (TMM), which is created anonymously by Tim Consult – based on real spot transport data of the Transporeon platform.

Overview of the key developments in October:
• In October the capacity index increased by 15 percent from 96.5 on September to 111 index points. Compared to 2018, the rise in October was also 15 percent.

• The transport price index fell from 104.5 to 102.9 index points. This corresponds to a price decline of 1.5 percent. Transport prices were 6.5 percent lower than in October last year.

• With an increase of 0.8 percent, the diesel price index changed only slightly compared to September and is 4.5 percentage points higher than the diesel price of October 2018.

Overall, the development of transport market prices and capacities in September and October 2019 followed the trend of the previous year. “The usual seasonal fluctuations were weaker this year. In addition, the increase in capacity is in particular due to empty trucks in the chemical and automotive industries, as well as in the steel and metal sector”, says Oliver Kahrs, Managing Director of Tim Consult, a subsidiary of Transporeon.