The Covid-19 pandemic will continue to mark road freight transportation in the year 2021. While energy transition and digitalization are major issues, many carriers will have to focus primarily on their short-term survival, as the sector has suffered in 2020.
2021 will be full of expectations. First of all, we expect a rebound in transportation demand. The acceleration of the economic recovery in mid-2021 should encourage trade within the European Union and fuel demand for freight transportation in Europe.
We are also waiting for confirmation of the convictions that were arrived at in 2020: the sector's economy must really green itself and plunge into digitalization, which has already developed strongly with the pandemic.
However, the crisis is bleeding many carriers dry and they will not survive through to the end of the year. The IRU fears "a wave of bankruptcies".
The management of the coronavirus crisis will therefore continue to have a strong impact on European road transportation in 2021, with a scissor effect between the recovery in demand and the contraction in supply will be in full swing. It will be painful for many shippers, cataclysmic for some carriers and rich in opportunities for others”, says William Béguerie, Road Transport Expert for Upply.
Find his full analysis by downloading the Upply report dedicated to the prospects for European road transport in 2021.
Contents:
1. A strong increase in demand... from the 3rd quarter on2. Carriers in danger
3. An irreversible ecological transition
4. An acceleration of digitalization
5. The challenge of the last mile
6. Conclusion: 2021 or the scissors effect
