A view on Transport at Austria

How has the transport and logistics sector performed in the last six months?

Austrian forwarders were very badly affected by the economic crisis. According to Statistics Austria, the volume of railway freight transports decreased 18.7% in 2009, while road transport fell 8.9%. The sector has started to recover in the last couple of months, but now has to contend with cheaper competition from neighbouring countries, as truck fleets are increasingly being outsourced to Eastern Europe.

What is the current trend in payment delays and insolvencies?

After last year’s difficulties, with a steep rise in insolvencies, business failures in the first half of this year fell 5.2% year-on-year. Even so, the transport/logistics industry still ranks third in the overall business insolvency statistics.

What is Crédito y Caución’s short term outlook for the transport/logistics sector?

There are signs that the recovery will continue, with the sector profiting from the increase in the volume of shipments resulting from the economic rebound. But it is still too early to give the ‘all clear’, as many companies are still financially weak as a result of the losses and sharp drop in demand that they experienced at the height of the economic crisis. Moreover, a potential increase in fuel tax would lead to higher costs, probably triggering more insolvencies and further outsourcing of truck fleets to other countries.