EU maritime trade remains dominant in international goods flows
Sea transport continues to carry most of the EU's international goods trade with non-EU countries in 2025, both in imports and exports by weight. The pattern shows maritime shipping leading in physical volumes, while air and road transport account for disproportionately larger shares of trade value.
Highlights
- EU maritime transport in 2025 handles 1.1 billion tonnes of imports (€1 270 billion) and 0.5 billion tonnes of exports (€1 069 billion).
- Sea freight constitutes 73.3% of total EU import volume and 72.6% of export volume in 2025, but just 50.2% of import value and 40.4% of export value.
- Air transport accounts for 20.7% of EU import value and 29.1% of export value in 2025, despite representing only 0.3% and 2.9% of physical volume.
2025 transport split across EU trade
As reported by Eurostat, the EU imports 1.1 billion tonnes of goods from non-EU countries by sea in 2025, valued at €1 270 billion. Exports transported by sea total 0.5 billion tonnes, worth €1 069 billion.Maritime transport is the main mode for EU international trade in goods in 2025. It accounts for 73.3% of all imports and 72.6% of all exports by weight, while its share by value is lower at 50.2% of import value and 40.4% of export value.
Value mix highlights role of air and road
Air transport plays only a limited role in trade volumes, with 0.3% of imports and 2.9% of exports moved by air. However, those shipments represent 20.7% of total import value and 29.1% of total export value, indicating the concentration of higher-value goods in air freight.Road transport also records a higher share in value than in volume, accounting for 19.5% of imports and 24.9% of exports by value, compared with 6.0% and 17.4% respectively by weight. By contrast, rail transport shows the opposite pattern, with volume shares of 2.6% for imports and 2.9% for exports exceeding value shares of 1.2% and 1.3%.
Our earlier article examined how fragmentation in the EU banking market is limiting lenders’ ability to finance the bloc’s digitalisation, economic-security and defence ambitions. We noted that differences in tax, insolvency and consumer-protection rules raise the cost of cross-border services, holding back scale and pushing more funding toward non-bank players, alongside efforts by regulators to simplify rules and reduce red tape.
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