Freight volumes on Spain's roads grow
According to a study conducted by the Spanish management consultancy DBK based in Madrid, the volume of cargo transported by road in Spain was worth EUR 12.219 million in 2001. This represented an increase of 4.8% compared to the previous year. The consultancy company characterized the national road haulage and forwarding sector as very fragmented. For example, at the end of the year 2000 there were 117,464 separate hauliers and freight forwarders in the Spanish part of the Iberian Peninsula, and they employed a total workforce of approximately 240,000 and operated around 250,000 vehicles. Some 70% of all Spanish road carriers only operated a single vehicle at the time of the survey, while only 5% of the hauliers disposed of fleets containing more than five units. Five large transport and forwarding companies control 9.9% of the domestic market: Seur, Guipuzcoana Euro Express, Grupo Azkar, Tradisa and Gefco. The rest are medium-sized or very small companies. According to the report, the Spanish road haulage and forwarding industry continues to expand, but this trend has clearly lost some of its impetus over the last two years. DBK sees the main reason for the fall in the growth rate in the slower expansion of the national economy. Even so, the transport industry remains optimistic and projects an increase in income of 4% for the current year.
(Source: INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT JOURNAL)
