CBS shows less weight on Dutch trucks, while prices, taxes and routes ask sharper questions.
At a small builder’s yard, the truck can look busy while the margin stays thin. It leaves early, waits on site, drops part of the load, and comes back with diesel gone and hours gone too. Movement is visible. Profit is less obedient.
The signal has to become readable
CBS published the road-freight figures on 29 June 2026. Dutch trucks transported 620 million tonnes of goods in 2025, 3.7 percent less than in 2024. Construction goods fell 8.0 percent to about 197 million tonnes. Own-account transport fell 5.2 percent. Professional haulage fell 3.4 percent.
The Tonne and the Invoice
Less weight does not automatically mean less revenue. CBS also reported that transport-sector turnover rose 4.4 percent in 2025, and land transport turnover rose 4.8 percent. Transport and storage prices rose 2.4 percent. Road-freight prices rose 2.3 percent.
That is where the pressure sits. A carrier can bill more and still feel weaker if empty kilometres rise, waiting time goes unpaid, maintenance peaks, fuel clauses lag, or customers stretch payment terms. Revenue looks respectable while each useful trip carries more hidden cost.
Domestic road freight by Dutch trucks fell to about 510 million tonnes, around the level of ten years earlier. International freight fell to about 109 million tonnes. The base under the fleet has thinned, even where invoice value has held up.
The Truck Inside the Business
Own-account transport deserves attention because it sits inside ordinary companies. A wholesaler, installer, builder or manufacturer may keep a truck to protect service. The customer gets the goods when promised. A site does not wait for a third party.
That control has value, and it costs money. The truck carries lease or depreciation, insurance, tyres, repairs, tax, driver hours, planning time, yard time and idle capacity. When own-account tonnes fall faster than professional haulage, the internal calculation becomes sharper. No carrier invoice arrives, so the cost can look softer than it is.
What the signal changes
The construction signal is practical. CBS reported fewer construction goods moved by Dutch trucks in 2025, including less wood, metal, machines and other building materials. Sand and gravel were comparable with a year earlier. Later CBS construction figures showed more permitted new-build homes in the first quarter of 2026, but fewer completed homes than a year earlier.
So the story is timing. Permits, site readiness, cash, supplier stock and delivery slots move at different speeds. The builder’s truck at the yard carries that gap in metal, diesel and wages.
July Changes the Cost Ledger
From 1 July 2026, the Dutch truck levy changes the cost conversation. Rijksoverheid says the levy applies per kilometre to Dutch and foreign N2 and N3 vehicles above 3,500 kilograms on motorways and some provincial and municipal roads. Cleaner and lighter vehicles pay less per kilometre. A temporary 22.3 percent tariff reduction applies from 1 September through 31 December 2026.
The same date changes the tax side too. Belastingdienst has stated that heavy motor vehicle tax, BZM, ends on 1 July 2026. Motor vehicle tax is temporarily reduced for relevant vans and trucks from the first qualifying tax period on or after that date.
For trucks with a permitted maximum mass of 12,000 kilograms or more, the temporary rate is zero from the relevant tax period. For trucks under 12,000 kilograms, the zero rate applies from 1 July 2026. A Eurovignet valid after 30 June 2026 can be reclaimed through the Belastingdienst refund form.
The business issue is the full vehicle cost, not one tax label. Route, weight, emission class, loaded kilometres and empty kilometres now belong closer to the invoice. A surcharge clause that cannot be explained to the customer offers little protection. A truck cost that cannot be traced to routes is worse.
What founders should check
CBS also reported that at the start of 2026 there were about 133 thousand Euro 6 freight vehicles, 45.1 percent more than five years earlier, and 3.8 thousand zero-emission freight vehicles. The fleet is changing. The records need to keep up.
The People and the Cash Problem
Lower tonnes may cool hiring in some firms, but driver risk remains. UWV says transport and logistics vacancies fell to 14.2 thousand in the fourth quarter of 2025, below the 2022 peak. It also points to ageing and replacement needs, including many bus and truck drivers aged 55 or older.
For a small carrier, driver planning remains a continuity issue. For a company with its own truck, the driver is part of the vehicle calculation. A half-used truck with a loyal driver is not only an asset question. It is a service question, a labour question and a margin question at once.
Cash deserves the same sober view. CBS reported fewer bankruptcies overall in May 2026 than a year earlier, but transport and storage had the highest branch bankruptcy rate in the uncorrected branch table, at 22.6 per 100 thousand companies. That makes debtor days, disputed surcharges, subcontractor exposure and customer concentration part of vehicle control.
A truck can look healthy until the wrong customer pays late.
What Tomorrow Morning Changes
The useful response is modest and concrete. Compare 2024 and 2025 by customer, route, vehicle and delivery type. Separate own-fleet costs from purchased transport. Look at loaded kilometres, empty returns, waiting time, failed drops, small deliveries and debtor days. Place the July 2026 levy, MRB change, BZM closure and possible Eurovignet refund in the same vehicle view.
This is where the business decision lives. Some trucks protect margin, speed and customer trust. Others carry an old business model after the order flow has changed. The difference appears only when the truck, the route, the invoice and the bank account are read together.
Back at the builder’s yard, the question is simple. Does the truck still turn planning into paid work? In 2026, Dutch freight data asks that question more clearly. Smaller firms should answer it before the next lease, price list or customer promise fixes the cost for another year.
Sources
- CBS source
- CBS – Transport turnover and price mix
- CBS – Transport confidence and uncertainty in 2026
- CBS – Construction pipeline and material demand
- CBS – Latest building permit table
- CBS – Binnenvaart as freight-mix comparison
- CBS – Fleet emissions, kilometre exposure and truck levy
- Rijksoverheid – Truck levy policy start
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The Polder is written for readers who need the Dutch business environment translated into practical meaning. Corrections, source policy and editorial accountability are part of the publication record.
