Market Challenges and their Impact on the Polish International Road Freight Transport Sector

Purpose: The main objective of the research is identifying the key market driven challenges facing currently the EU road freight sector, as well as, assessing their impact on Polish road freight haulers, in both economic and financial aspects, as well as regulatory ones with respect to its decarbonizing. Design/Methodology/Approach: To conduct this data-driven research, the following methods were applied: critical literature analysis, data mining and analysis, factor analysis, market analysis and comparative analysis. Findings: The Polish road freight transport companies play key role in both domestic and international freight transport market, generating at the same time significant amount of GHG. Being under the restrictive regulatory measures aimed at transforming it towards zero emission, they streive to achieve the EC targets in the scheduled time through the accelerated development of electromobility. However, such a path towards decarbomization is associated with huge upfront costs, they need to bear. Capital-weak Polish road freight transport companies, characterized by low profitability and operating in highly competitive, atomized polypoly-type EU market, are not able, however, to carry out the necessary replacement of the vehicle fleet driven by combustion engines by green electric trucks without sufficiently high financial state support. Due to the long lasting market disruptions caused by the ongoing war in Ukraine, temporary abolition of permits for Ukrainian carriers, reconfiguration of supply chains and many macroeconomic reasons that affected severely road freight sector, without significant public financial support, there majority of SMEs will go bankrupt.The road transport market will progressing towards consolidation and oligopolization. Practical Implications: The current fast-track implementation of the EU road transport decarbonization strategy, focused almost exclusively on achieving ecological goals, should be revised. It needs not only to be extended in time, but also much more strongly than before, take into account the economic and social aspects resulting from its implementation. Otherwise, it may cause serious economic effects for all parties involved in the road transport chains and the EU economy. Originality/Value: Without bridging the gap between the currently overemphasized environmental dimension and the economic and social ones of the sustainable mobility strategy, it will not be possible to proceed smoothly towards decarbonizing the EU road freight transport. This is the only way to avoid excessive costs and social losses accompanying this type of deep structural change.