The driving mileage of toll trucks with at least four axles on Germany’s federal highways fell by 2.3 % in January 2026 compared with December 2025, after both calendar‑ and seasonal‑adjustment. The calendar‑adjusted Freight‑Truck Toll Performance Index was 0.9 % lower than it was in January 2025, the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM) and the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Monday.
The index is also viewed as an economic activity indicator, because economic activity generates and relies on transport services. The agencies explain that there is a clear relationship between the Freight‑Truck Toll Performance Index and activity indices, especially industrial production. Since the truck index is released roughly a month earlier than the production index, it is positioned as a leading indicator of business cycle developments. A sector‑by‑sector breakdown, however, is not possible.
In addition to the monthly index, the agencies publish a daily experimental Freight‑Truck Toll Performance Index. Daily values, together with other high‑frequency economic indicators, are available in the “Pulse Measure Economy” section of the “Dashboard Konjunktur” which is part of the broader “Dashboard Germany”. The tool lets users overlay several indicators on a single chart, allowing near real‑time monitoring of the economy’s trajectory.
