The number of freight offers placed on the market via the company fell by 20% from the beginning of April to the end of June 2019 compared to the same quarter of the previous year. "The US government's protectionist economic policy is hampering global trade, which in turn is reducing export volumes. Export-oriented nations such as Germany, France and the Benelux countries are the hardest hit by this development," says Timocom's business analyst David Moog.

In the second quarter, a total of 21,817,710 offers were placed via the "Smart App Freights", which companies can use to post and process their transport offers on the freight exchange; in the same quarter of the previous year, this figure was still 27,565,605. The decline mainly affected the transport of industrial and capital goods, including from the supplier industry, reports Moog.

The impending Brexit is also having an ever greater impact. "After transport volumes to the UK rose significantly in the first quarter due to an increase in stock levels, we are now experiencing a slump," reports Moog. The number of exports from Europe to the UK fell by 56% in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter of 2019, the company reports.

The export trend in Southern Europe defied this trend. With growth of 21% from April to June, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece transported significantly more goods to other European countries than in the same quarter of the previous year. Moog: "The fruit and vegetable season is currently in full swing in these countries."

The IT company uses the transport barometer tool to analyze the development of transport supply and demand on the freight exchange integrated into Timocom's Smart Logistics System on a quarterly basis. With more than 130,000 users and up to 750,000 international loading space and freight offers every day, Timocom operates the largest digital system for road freight transport in Europe.