According to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office, in 2024 Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) after adjusting for prices declined by 0.2 per cent on the previous year, the second fall in succession. That also puts the country below the GDP for the EU as a whole, which saw slight growth of 1.0 per cent. Among the causes of Germany's poor economic performance are sluggish industrial production, falling exports in key sales markets and weak domestic demand. Energy prices fell in the year under report, but were still above the price they were before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In general, the uncertain economic outlook caused by war, trade policy decisions expected to be taken by the new Trump administration, the wait for economic policy decisions by the federal government and higher interest rates is dampening the willingness of both businesses and private households to invest. The transport sector is reflecting the negative economic trends just described with declining consignment figures.

Rail freight transport in general, and Combined Transport in particular, which competes directly with end-to-end road transport by offering long-distance transport products for semitrailers, swap bodies and containers, has been hit by a number of factors. Alongside the continuing high energy prices, which have to be passed on to the customer, in January 2024 the federal government, much to the surprise of all market players, announced an intra-year reduction in the TraföG train path price subsidy for freight transport. This subsidy is intended to mitigate the cost burden on rail compared with road haulage and was taken into account in the 2024 transport price at the amount originally stated. Another factor making transport by rail more expense is the engineering works required for maintaining and modernising the rail network, which continued unabated in the year under report. The delays and diversions caused by line closures and interruptions and the greater deployment of resources this entailed are both imposing additional costs and impairing to a considerable degree the quality of service provided by the trains. By contrast, long-distance road transport benefited from falling diesel prices during the year and free truck capacity as a result of the drop in demand for transport.