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Road haulage within the European Union (EU) is set for constant expansion until 2030, according to a detailed report written for the European Commission. It predicts that 2005's EU freight transport total haulage of 2,464 gpkm (one billion tonnes carried over one kilometre) will rise to 2,770 by 2010 3,061 by 2015 3,321 by 2020 3,546 by 2025  and 3,717 by 2030. Road haulage will command the lion's share of this business, growing from 72.6% in 2005 to 75.4% by 2030.

The study - carried out by the National Technical University of Athens, Greece - also predicts there will be growth for the freight volumes carried by rail and inland waterways, reversing a recent contraction in rail freight. Rail and inland waterways will grow by 1.4% and 1% per year respectively from 2005 to 2030.

But the amount of freight per unit of GDP in the EU will fall because of factors such as transport productivity. "The projection shows freight activity per unit of GDP declining from 0.225 tonne-km per €0.05 of GDP in 2005 to 0.199 tonne-km per €0.05 of GDP," notes the report, adding that this represented "a gradual decoupling of freight transport from GDP growth".