German First-Half Rail Cargo Traffic Declines Most on Record

By Cornelius Rahn

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Germany’s rail cargo traffic dropped the most on record in the first half as the recession curbed orders for goods made in Europe’s largest economy.

The German railway system transported 147.3 million metric tons of goods in the first six months of 2009, down 22.4 percent from the year-earlier period, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today on its Web site. That was the biggest drop since records began in 1950.

“The impact of the economic crisis on demand for transport via railways has been felt since November 2008,” the statistics office said.

Germany’s economy unexpectedly expanded 0.3 percent in the second quarter, emerging from its worst recession since World War II. The country’s exports fell 1.2 percent in the April-June period after dropping 10.5 percent, the most since reunification, in the first three months of the year.

The quantity of goods transported abroad declined 30.5 percent, and imports by train fell 29.7 percent, while inland traffic of goods declined 17.8 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cornelius Rahn in Frankfurt at crahn2@bloomberg.net