Executive Summary
Foreword
Introduction
Rankings
Two Pillars
Safety
Fleet Management
City Snapshots
What This Means
Outlook
Methodology
MESSAGE FROM EDWARD KULPERGER
performance specifically, required a different approach. This report analyses twelve months of real operations, across seven European capitals, scored on two dimensions that map directly to what fleet operators care about: does the network allow vehicles to move efficiently, and if not, what is the cost? The findings are honest, and likely not comfortable for every city in this report. However, honest data is what the industry needs. Berlin and Amsterdam demonstrate that high-performing freight environments are achievable. Madrid and London show how much ground there is still to close, which requires both infrastructure investment and operational discipline from fleets. Geotab’s role is to give operators the data insights that provide visibility into how to execute: in the planning phase, on the road, and in operations review. That is what connected vehicle technology at scale makes possible. The operating environment facing European fleets is demanding. The leaders in this study are navigating it every day. Geotab is committed to providing deep data expertise and analytics that give fleet managers every possible advantage, ensuring ongoing success and resilience within their organisations.
Every morning, millions of vehicles pull out of depots across Europe. They carry food to supermarkets, components to factories, parcels to front doors, medicines to hospitals. The scale is easy to understate: commercial transportation is not a logistics sector — it is the operating layer that keeps everything else functioning. I have spent years working with fleet operators across this region. The pressure is visible in the details: tighter delivery windows, more stops per route, more regulations per city. Fuel costs are part of that pressure. The data in this report covers 2025 — a year of relative stability in European energy markets. Since then, geopolitical instability in the Middle East has pushed European diesel prices above €2 per litre, a 30% rise in a matter of weeks. At those prices, the idle fuel waste recorded in this study would cost an estimated €1 million more. The drivers navigating this complexity are skilled professionals operating under conditions that get harder each year. What is changing is the environment around them. European cities are growing. Zero-emission zones are expanding. Compliance requirements vary by city, by vehicle class, by year. The operators who can adapt, those with the data insights and visibility to act in real time, will navigate this period well. Those without that visibility are making decisions on assumptions. This is what made this index worth building. For years, we could observe congestion. Measuring it continuously, objectively, and at the level of commercial vehicle
The road ahead for European freight
Edward Kulperger Senior Vice President, EMEA, at Geotab
European Urban Freight Efficiency Index
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