Freight volume in 2009 totalled 303.1m tonnes, down 11.9pc after a 3.8pc rise in 2008. Freight volume dropped yr/yr each quarter of last year after rises in 2008.

    Calculated in freight-tonne-kilometres, performance of the transport sector rose 4.0pc to 13.37bn freight-tonne-kilometres in Q4 2009 after five quarters of yr/yr decline.

    Full-year performance still dropped, by 6.3pc to 50.12bn freight-tonne-kilometres in 2009 after a 0.7pc decline in 2008.

    International freight volume fell 12.8pc to 80.5m tonnes and domestic freight volume fell 11.5pc to 222.6m tonnes last year. In freight-tonne-kilometres, full-year international performance fell 6.4pc to 35.60bn and domestic performance fell an almost identical 6.3pc, to 14.52bn.

    Q4 comparisons show, however, a pickup in international performance since a low reached in Q2 2009, as Q4 foreign freight volume declined only 1pc yr/yr in tonnes and rose to 8.7pc in tonne-kilometres.

    The picture was still bleak on the domestic scene, where the volume-term drop widened each quarter since Q2 to reach 13.9pc yr/yr in Q4, while the yr/yr decline tonne-kilometre-term performance slowed to 6.7pc in Q4 from 8.5pc -- the annual low - in Q3.

    76pc of all freight volume was carried on road and 14pc on railways last year. The share in domestic freight was 91pc and 6pc, respectively, while was 34pc and 37pc in international freight volume 19pc of which went on pipeline.

    Road transport volume fell 10.1pc in 2009, rail transport fell a steep 17.7pc, transport volume on inland waterways fell 12.3pc. Pipeline transport fell the least, 7.3pc in 2009 and was the only segment with a rise, of 2.5pc, in Q4. Freight-tonne-kilometre rail transport suffered the greatest decline at 21.7pc.

    In road transport, fewer goods were transported at longer distances, while the empty running of vehicles dropped. Freight companies suffered a deeper fall than the headline figures.

    Within the sharp overall drop of freight transport on railways, domestic volumes rose 11pc while performance in tonne-kilometres fell 3pc. International rail freight volume dropped a sharp 26pc and tonne-kilometres dropped 25pc. KSH noted that two Slovak companies entered the Hungarian rail freight market last year.

    Long-distance passenger numbers fell 5.2pc to 655.5m in 2009 and passenger transport performance dropped 4.7pc to 24.77bn passenger kilometres last year.

    Hungary's air freight turnover totalled 54,550 tonnes last year, 13.7pc less than in 2008. Practically all the turnover was on Budapest Ferihegy airport where freight turnover fell 13.3pc to 54,360 tonnes.