Press release No. 008 of 7 January 2022
Truck toll mileage index, December 2021
+1.4% on the previous month (calendar and seasonally adjusted)
-0.2% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
+4.6% compared with the average of the period from March 2019 to February 2020
KÖLN/WIESBADEN – The Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG) and the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) report that the mileage covered by trucks with four or more axles, which are subject to toll charges, on German motorways increased by a calendar and seasonally adjusted 1.4% in December 2021 compared with November 2021. The calendar adjusted truck toll mileage index was down by 0.2% on December 2020. In seasonally and calendar adjusted terms, the index was 4.6% above the level prior to the coronavirus crisis, when measured against the annual average before the crisis (March 2019 to February 2020).
Evaluation by Land: Rheinland-Pfalz recorded highest month-on-month growth
As of reference month October 2021, truck toll mileage indices for the Länder have also been available. They show that Rheinland-Pfalz recorded the highest month-on-month growth in calendar and seasonally adjusted terms (+5.8%). By contrast, the largest month-on-month decrease (-4.1%) was observed in Berlin.
| Länder | % |
|---|---|
| Baden-Württemberg | +2.4 |
| Bayern | +0.9 |
| Berlin | -4.1 |
| Brandenburg | +1.3 |
| Bremen | -0.1 |
| Hamburg | -1.0 |
| Hessen | +2.7 |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | -3.3 |
| Niedersachsen | +1.2 |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | +2.0 |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | +5.8 |
| Saarland | +5.2 |
| Sachsen | +3.5 |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | +3.7 |
| Schleswig-Holstein | -1.4 |
| Thüringen | +3.1 |
The website of the Federal Statistical Office shows the Land indices every month at the same time as the truck toll mileage index for Germany. Unadjusted as well as calendar and seasonally adjusted results are available also for the Länder. First background information on how to assess the Länder results is provided by the publication “Lkw-Maut-Fahrleistungsindex für Bundesländer: regionale Fahrleistung und industrielle Aktivität” (only in german). It also outlines the connection between the truck toll mileage index and the turnover index in manufacturing, taking account of the economic structures in the individual Länder. The regional mileage index by Land is suited as a short-term economic indicator only for some Länder. Analyses carried out in the non-city Länder with a stronger industrial character have shown a clear connection between regional truck toll mileage and regional turnover in manufacturing. This connection is less visible in the city states and the Länder characterised by less industry. At the same time, the truck toll mileage index in a breakdown by Land is used by the Federal Office for Goods Transport to represent and analyse traffic-related effects.
Close connection between truck traffic and short-term economic development
Economic activity produces and requires transport services. Therefore, the truck mileage on motorways reflected by the index for the whole of Germany is closely connected with industrial production in Germany and provides early indications of short-term economic trends.
As part of truck toll collection, digital process data are generated, for example, on the mileage of trucks subject to toll in Germany. The BAG has developed the truck toll mileage index which reflects the development of mileage over time. Due to its rapid availability and economic meaningfulness, the Federal Statistical Office presents the index as a seasonally adjusted short-term indicator and has included the index in its publications programme since December 2018.
Because of the considerable uncertainty about the economic development and the high demand for up-to-date short-term economic data due to the coronavirus crisis, the Federal Office for Goods Transport and the Federal Statistical Office currently update the results at the national level every week (on Thursdays). The results for Germany are presented as a time series of daily figures and provide a very up-to-date picture of mileage after five to twelve days. This does not apply to the values for individual Länder.
Information on the daily truck toll mileage index can be found in the article “Daily truck toll mileage index based on digital process data from toll collection system”, which was authored jointly by the Federal Statistical Office, the Federal Office for Goods Transport and the Deutsche Bundesbank and published in the 4/2020 issue of the WISTA scientific journal of the Federal Statistical Office. An explanatory video and a podcast on the subject are also available on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.
Release notes:
The monthly results of the truck toll mileage index can be found in the GENESIS-Online database in Tables 42191-0001 (truck toll mileage index for Germany) and 42191-LM001 (truck toll mileage index for the Länder), on the Short-term indicators pages and in the Business Cycle Monitor of the Federal Statistical Office.
The daily figures of the truck toll mileage index for Germany are available on the Experimental data (EXDAT) pages and the Corona statistics special webpage of the Federal Statistical Office (updated every week).
As part of its "toll statistics", the Federal Office for Goods Transport has evaluated toll data since January 2008. Both the size of the toll road network and the permissible total weight of vehicles and vehicle combinations subject to toll charges have changed over time. The truck toll mileage index largely eliminates such structural changes so that short-term economic trends become clearer.
Further results of the toll statistics of the Federal Office for Goods Transport are available from its publications programme, including information on the mileage of trucks subject to toll broken down, for instance, by country of registration or pollutant category. Due to the broader range of data offered and the increased evaluation effort involved, the monthly toll statistics are usually published after the truck toll mileage index. The statistics are not adjusted for seasonal effects or structural changes in toll collection, as is done in the index calculation.
Bundesamt für Güterverkehr:
Michael Cox,
tel: +49 221 5776 4206
www.bag.bund.de
