The freight volume of duty‑payable trucks with at least four axles on federal motorways fell by 2.3 percent in January 2026 compared with December 2025, after adjustment for calendar and seasonal effects. The calendar‑adjusted truck‑toll freight volume index was 0.9 percent lower than in the same month a year earlier, the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM) and the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Monday.
The index is also regarded as a business‑cycle gauge because economic activity generates and requires transportation services. The agencies point out a strong linkage between the truck‑toll index and broader activity measures, especially industrial production. Because the truck‑toll index is released roughly a month ahead of the production index, it functions as an early indicator of economic trends, although a sectoral breakdown is not available.
Beyond the monthly figure, the federal offices publish an experimental daily truck‑toll freight volume index. These daily values, together with other real‑time economic indicators, can be accessed online in the “Pulse of the Economy” subsection of the “Business‑Cycle Dashboard”, which is part of the larger “Dashboard Germany”. The tool allows various indicators to be plotted side by side in a single chart, aiming to provide near‑real‑time insight into the economy’s evolution.