Cargo transported by road totaled 4.4 million tons in the first quarter and 5.7 million tons in the second quarter of 2020. In the first quarter of the year, the volume of freight shipments done by Estonian trucks declined by 38 percent year over year. The freight turnover of freight transport by road was smaller by close to one third at 873 million ton-kilometers.

Birgitta Ojamaa, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that just like for many other sectors, the first half-year was a difficult period for the transport sector, as the sector's economic growth declined already in the first quarter due to the pandemic, whereas in the second quarter the year-on-year drop was as big as 8 percent. 

In the second quarter, freight transport grew by 28 percent compared with the first quarter, but was nevertheless smaller by 23 percent than in the second quarter of last year. Freight turnover meanwhile totaled one billion ton-kilometers, 9 percent less than the year before. 

The top goods and commodities transported by road in the first half of 2020 were metal ores, other mining and quarrying products, as well as peat, which accounted for almost one-third of all cargoes transported. In 2019, rock chippings and peat accounted for a quarter of shipments. 

The other top categories, just like last year, were agricultural, hunting and forestry products and fishery products; food, beverages and tobacco; wood, straw, paper and cork products.

Estonian trucks drove an estimated 138 million kilometers in freight transportation in the first six months of the year, about a quarter less than during the same period in 2019. Slightly over 80 percent of the total mileage was driven with freight.

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