The whole world is feeling the effects of an impending economic crisis. Supply chains have been struggling since 2019, including road transport, which accounts for almost 75% of total goods transport. This was made even worse by the COVID pandemic in 2020. Road freight transport in Europe started to recover in the second half of 2020, continued in 2021 and looked set to continue in 2022 despite the difficulties. This brought us to the beginning of 2022, when the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out, so other phenomena caused difficulties. This year, the transport market and freight rates have been driven by labour shortages, faltering industrial production, wage inflation, the energy crisis, rising interest rates and the mobility package.
The spring saw a surge in world oil prices, leading to a brutal rise in fuel prices across Europe. It is almost impossible to predict the price of oil in the coming months.
The shortage of drivers in the European transport market is nothing new. The number of job vacancies increases every quarter.
Freight rates in Europe continued to rise in the third quarter. Although the transport market has adapted to the economic events of the first half of the year, the costs of freight forwarders are still rising.
