russian Road Transportation on the Brink of Collapse: Thousands of Companies Going Bankrupt

The russian road freight market saw a catastrophic decline in 2025. More than 7,000 companies found themselves on the verge of liquidation or bankruptcy as a direct result of skyrocketing costs. Fuel, leasing, bank rates, maintenance – each of these factors has made the business unviable. In the “petrol filling station country”, fuel prices have hit shipping carriers’ pockets: petrol has risen in price by almost 11%, diesel – by more than 9%. The average price per liter of AI-95 reached 68-69 rubles, of diesel – 75-77 rubles, which made domestic transportation economically pointless.

The decline in production in the rf reduced the volume of cargo needing transportation and led to fierce competition among long-distance truckers. Transportation prices dropped by 25–30%, while draconian government fines became an additional burden. Automatic charges for exceeding size and weight limits reach hundreds of thousands of rubles, depriving carriers of even the right to appeal.

Against this background of chaos, Chinese companies feel confident. Cheap loans, the ability to avoid some penalties, and the use of cabotage legislation have enabled them to capture up to 20% of the domestic road transport market in the rf. russian players are being pushed out of their own market, yielding to foreign competitors.

An additional indicator of decline is the import of heavy trucks: in 2025, it dropped almost tenfold – to 7,900 compared to 76,200 a year earlier. This trend demonstrates not just a crisis, but the actual degradation of the industry which is losing its ability to renew its fleet and maintain minimum competitiveness.