Market Overview

Trucking is the most popular method of freight transportation: it handles about 2/3 of the total volume of freight transported in Russia. The popularity of this transportation mode stems primarily from its affordability relative to air and rail transportation. In addition, cargos can be delivered to virtually any destination.

The trucking market comprises the following segments:

• Full Truck Load (FTL) – transportation with a fully loaded vehicle;
• Less than Truck Load (LTL) – transportation of goods by vehicles with partial loading ( the cargos are collected from different shippers);
• Groupage, when cargoes from different shippers are sorted by destination at warehouses and delivered together with cargoes from other shippers to their respective destinations.

A substantial share of all road freight transportation in Russia takes place in European part of the country. Meanwhile, long-distance trucking is developing in Siberia and the Far East. As for international routes, after a significant decline in freight volumes between Russia and the EU in 2014-2015, the situation on this market stabilised in 2016. In contrast, transportation between Russia and China is gaining more and more promise as cargo turnover on these routes is growing.

The trucking industry in Russia is highly competitive. There are several types of operators on the market: large companies (over 300 trucks), medium-sized companies (50 to 300 trucks), small family companies and individual entrepreneurs (1 to 50 trucks), logistics companies, captive companies ( logistics subsidiaries of large retail chains), as well as companies specialising in transporting certain types of cargo (e.g. passenger cars).

Large players (such as Globaltruck) compete directly with medium-sized trucking operators, logistics and captive companies.

Industry consolidation has become one of the most significant trends in the trucking market. The introduction of enhanced tax collection measures, higher transparency requirements and the implementation of automatic weight control and tolling on federal highways through the Platon system have put additional pressure on smaller companies that cannot meet the increasingly stringent regulations.

The share of big companies with large fleets is growing steadily, while small companies and individual entrepreneurs with fleets over 5-7 years old are leaving the market. Thus, the number of high mileage trucks will be decreasing.

The most advanced and promising segment is FTL transportation for retailers, FMCG companies and e-commerce. Trucking services enjoy the highest demand in the FMCG segment, which is showing strong growth, including in the Urals and Siberia regions. According to AKIT, the volume of the e-commerce market in Russia grew by 23% year-on-year in 2019 to RUB 2,032bn.

Regulation of the trucking industry has been substantially tightened over recent years, favouring further development of the largest players upholding high professional standards.