After two bruising years, Europe’s road freight market is catching its breath. Spot rates again overpassed contract rates, fuel costs are down from the 2022 peak. Purchasing manager indeks has grown in numerous countries this summer. On the surface, it appears to be relief.
Scratch deeper, and the story becomes more nuanced: structural cost pressure, elevated insolvencies in the transport sector, new geopolytical dynamics, and a patchy demand picture mean that the next phase will reward agility more than comfort.
In the article bellow sales leaders can find some answers regarding, what to do with their sales teams and strategies.
What made the last two years so difficult
A mixture of pressures molded the preceding two years.
Even though road freight rates either grew or held steady during much of 2023 and early 2024, carriers weren’t celebrating (with some exceptions). The reality was that their cost base surged even faster. Diesel prices climbed to post-war highs, toll reforms in Germany introduced new per-kilometer charges, and wages, insurance, and financing costs all increased. For many transport companies, this meant that even with steady rates on paper, margins were shrinking. The effect was apparent among small and mid-sized hauliers, many of whom faced rising insolvency risks.
On the demand side, shipping volumes were equally challenging. After the pandemic rebound, European road freight and container flows softened as consumer spending weakened and inventories were drawn down. According to Eurostat, in 2023 and 2024, goods transport volumes remained below pre-crisis levels in several key economies, particularly in manufacturing hubs such as Germany.
This mismatch – steady or rising rates, but softening volumes and exploding costs – created a frustrating paradox: carriers were busy enough to keep trucks on the road, but not profitable enough to build reserves or invest in their fleets.
What’s next: reading the indicators, not the headlines
Rates show a mixed picture across transport modes, and road freight cannot be viewed in isolation. On the road, spot and contract indices are converging, and with cost floors set by tolls, wages, a sharp drop in contract rates is unlikely. Carriers will continue to face lane-by-lane fluctuations — shaped by toll pass-throughs, wage settlements, and OEM output — but a broad market collapse looks doubtful. Still, road transport is not shielded from global dynamics.
While road freight rates appear more resilient, developments in other modes suggest the seasons we were once used to in logistics are over. Ocean freight, after a brief recovery earlier in 2025, has started to slide again under the weight of overcapacity and softer demand on key Asia–Europe and transatlantic lanes, with a huge order book still to be delivered. Air cargo shows a similar volatility, with uneven demand from e-commerce and pharma, but growing pressure on rates as passenger belly capacity expands. These shifts prove that no mode can rely on traditional cycles anymore — and road freight is no exception. What looks stable today can quickly turn unstable tomorrow.
For carriers and road freight brokers, it reinforces a simple truth — the winners will be those agile enough to pivot quickly between lanes/modes, adjust pricing strategies, and adapt to shifting customer demands, treating adaptability not as an afterthought but as a core survival skill.
What this means from a sales perspective
For road freight providers, these market dynamics aren’t just an operational challenge — they’re a sales challenge. Shifting seasons, sudden lane imbalances, and the high risk of unstable pricing make it more complicated than ever to deliver certainty to customers. A rate that appears competitive today can become outdated tomorrow, whether due to a sudden surge in fuel costs, a toll increase on a critical corridor, or new tariffs and blockages, which can change everything overnight.
This is why maintaining the right balance between spot and contract business will be crucial. Spot shipments offer flexibility, enabling companies to capitalize on short-term opportunities when market conditions shift in their favor. Still, over-reliance on them can leave margins vulnerable when costs rise. Contracts, on the other hand, provide predictability — yet if they are priced too tightly, carriers risk being locked into unprofitable terms. The companies that master this portfolio approach, adjusting the mix dynamically, will have a substantial competitive edge.
Let‘s not forget that one of the most significant hidden risks for logistics providers today is not only unstable rates or geopolitical uncertainty — it’s the way sales are handled. Too many sales teams focus on servicing existing customers and forget the most crucial discipline: constant business development. When markets shift or lanes change, these companies suddenly find themselves exposed. Without an active and nurtured pipeline, there is nowhere to turn when volumes drop, margins tighten, or new competitors appear.
This is where the real bottleneck emerges. Instead of adapting quickly, sales managers scramble, claiming that “the market is bad” or that “there are no customers,” when in fact the real issue is that the groundwork was never done. A pipeline isn’t built overnight. If opportunities aren’t continually cultivated—through prospecting, nurturing, and systematic follow-up—there is nothing to fall back on when disruption strikes.
That’s why building sales agility is just as important as operational agility. Having a team of professionals who are proactive in outreach, systematic in opportunity management, and fast in execution is becoming a decisive competitive advantage. The companies that invest in such teams will not only weather uncertainty better – they will actually capture customers while others are still complaining about how difficult the market has become.
Conclusion
Europe’s road freight market may finally feel a sense of relief after two turbulent years, but the hard times are far from over.
In this environment, agility is no longer optional – it’s the survival skill. Companies that will win are those that can adapt quickly, balancing spot and contract exposure, pivoting between modes, anticipating geopolitical shifts, and, critically, building sales teams that don’t just wait for customers but actively go out and win them.
If one wants to build an agile sales team, we can help. We start by auditing your sales process and team to identify what’s missing and where bottlenecks exist. Then, we update your sales playbook and train your team to perform at the speed today’s logistics market demands.
Let’s talk about how to make your sales team as agile as your operations.
About the Author:
Thomas Ananjevas is a seasoned supply chain professional with 15 years of experience in purchasing and selling logistics services and building supply chains from the ground up. He founded a consulting, training, and marketing services company dedicated to the logistics.
