ROAD TRANSPORT : IRU SAYS ACTIVITY WILL 'SLOW DOWN AND STAGNATE IN 2012'.

• Position: International Road Transport Union - Brief article

According to the International Road Transport Union (IRU), economic development and transport activity will slow down sharply in 2012 in OECD and EU countries, following weak economic growth in 2011. These projections are based on a comparison of GDP growth, road freight transport volumes and new vehicle registrations in 58 countries.

Jens Hugel, head of sustainable development for IRU, explained that "when comparing the 2010 and 2011 figures, BRIC countries [Brazil, Russia, India and China] have outperformed OECD countries in terms of growth in tonnes transported and will continue doing so in 2012. In fact, transport operators from BRIC countries transported 7.7% more goods in 2011, whereas transport operators in the OECD and EU transported only 1.7% and 1.6% more volume, respectively".

For 2012, the association predicts that growth of volumes transported will slow down to 0.9% for the OECD and 0.8% for the...