As data from the National Debt Register shows, overdue liabilities in Poland’s TSL sector — transport, freight forwarding and logistics — have already reached PLN 1.66 billion, up PLN 69 million from a year earlier. Road hauliers account for 79% of the total debt. This situation is the result of a buildup of multiple problems, the most serious of which are: fewer transport orders, rising operating costs, staff shortages and additional regulatory obligations.
Sentiment among TSL sector representatives is clearly pessimistic. In March this year, the value of the Monthly Business Climate Index (MIK) for the industry fell by almost 8 points in just one month. Entrepreneurs more frequently pointed to a decline in sales and in the number of new orders. On top of that, there are growing liquidity problems. According to the latest KRD data, the sector’s debt is only increasing. At the end of March, total indebtedness exceeded PLN 1.66 billion. This amount was generated by the liabilities of 31,800 transport operators.
“The most worrying phenomenon in the TSL industry is its vulnerability to payment gridlocks. The sector’s total debt increased year on year by more than PLN 69 million, while the average debt per company rose by more than PLN 2,000. The number of debtors has not changed significantly. Importantly, as much as 79% of the total arrears amount comes from road freight transport, which is the backbone of the entire market. It is also clear that debt is accumulating not so much in secondary expenses, but in the costs of everyday operations: towards leasing companies, fuel suppliers and insurers. And it is well known that if problems emerge precisely there, it means that the current ability to fulfill orders is at risk. On top of that, there are problems typical of the entire industry: extended payment terms, lack of a financial cushion, and delayed reactions to contractors’ payment delays,” says Adam Łącki, President of the Management Board of the National Debt Register, a business information bureau.
Most of the sector’s total debt belongs to road freight transport: 23,400 entities owe as much as PLN 1.32 billion. Second place is held by 4,360 passenger land transport companies, which must repay PLN 154 million. Slightly less, PLN 127 million in debt, was generated by companies involved in warehousing and transport-supporting services, with 2,470 of them struggling to settle liabilities on time.
The largest debts are held by companies from Mazovia, which owe creditors PLN 338 million. Companies from Silesia must repay PLN 223 million. Slightly less, PLN 218 million, is owed by carriers operating in Greater Poland. The lowest amount of overdue debt is recorded by firms from the Świętokrzyskie region, whose liabilities amount to PLN 24.7 million. Similar figures apply to entities from the Opole region (PLN 26.9 million) and Warmia-Masuria (PLN 33 million).
Nearly 65% of indebted carriers are sole proprietorships, which have accumulated PLN 929 million in debt.
“According to the Reliable Company survey, ‘Problems and Challenges of Transport Companies in Poland’, transport firms are currently operating in a mode of extreme caution. As many as 61% assess the condition of the entire industry negatively, and 48% are not planning any development activities this year. With rising fuel costs, fleet maintenance expenses and pressure on rates, entrepreneurs are focusing primarily on maintaining liquidity and securing day-to-day operations. In such a situation, verifying business partners and building payment credibility become especially important, because these help reduce cooperation risk and better protect companies from further payment gridlocks,” says Sandra Czerwińska, an expert at Reliable Company.
An uneven battle on two fronts
According to data from the Polish Economic Institute, the biggest barrier to doing business is rising labor costs — cited by 79% of transport companies. Nearly two out of three cannot find qualified drivers. Another problem is the declining number of transport operations: according to PKO BP estimates, road transport in 2025 fell by 8%. Moreover, a study by the Transport and Logistics Poland Employers’ Association shows that more than 73% of companies expect a serious deterioration in the profitability of transport services in the coming months. This is all due to a 40% increase in e-Toll system rates and the expansion of roads covered by the system by an additional 645 kilometers.
A major burden also comes from fuel price volatility related to the situation in the Middle East, as well as new administrative obligations, including the extension of SENT monitoring to clothing and footwear from March 17, 2026. The consequence of these developments is mounting financial liquidity problems.
“Transport is currently fighting on two fronts: operating costs and payment bottlenecks. Over the last twelve months, there has been a clear deterioration in financial liquidity and the timely settlement of liabilities among micro-enterprises in this sector. We are seeing a several-percent increase in the number of entrepreneurs applying for financing but failing to obtain it because they themselves or their contractors have negative entries in debtor registers. At the same time, we can see that where companies have a good score, the total value of financing granted by us is rising. This is because more liquidity-stable transport companies now need larger temporary cash injections to maintain ongoing operational activity,” explains Emanuel Nowak, an expert at the factoring company NFG.
The uneven struggle of the TSL sector is illustrated by the KRD Payment Credibility Analysis. On the one hand, the industry entered 2026 in better condition than a year earlier: in February, the share of companies with the best ratings A+B+C rose to 60.4% from 53.2%, and in March to 60.9% from 58.9% year on year. On the other hand, after a very strong January, when 65.8% of firms had the best ratings, February brought a clear setback, down to 60.4%. Importantly, there was no increase in the number of entities with the highest risk, as the share of F+G+H ratings remained almost unchanged at around 13%. What changed instead was the shift between the strongest companies and those in the intermediate group.
Millions frozen at unreliable contractors
The TSL sector’s biggest liabilities are owed to the financial sector, including banks, leasing firms, insurers and securitization funds. It owes them as much as PLN 1.15 billion. Carriers must also repay more than PLN 256 million to the fuel industry and PLN 131.3 million to the trade sector. Arrears to telecommunications operators amount to PLN 48.8 million, while PLN 20.4 million is owed to vehicle repair companies.
But the TSL sector also has its own debtors, and carriers’ liabilities would be lower if they were paid on time for services already performed. Meanwhile, the National Debt Register shows only PLN 215.3 million on the side of unreliable contractors. This is because many carriers do not report their debtors to the register, fearing a deterioration in business relationships. Some of them try to motivate non-paying clients to settle their dues through other means.
“Disciplining unreliable contractors is one of the reasons why small transport companies turn to factoring. Unfortunately, not all of them are able to do so. They are deprived of this tool by assignment bans in contracts with large logistics firms, which prevent them from using this solution. In practice, the carrier performs the service, waits for payment, and at the same time has no access to the financial tools that are supposed to support it. This traps the company in a vicious cycle of payment gridlocks, with no way to improve the situation. Last year alone, according to the Central Economic Information Centre, 673 bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings were announced against companies from the TSL sector,” notes Emanuel Nowak.
The largest amount, PLN 66.7 million, consists of internal debts within the industry. Another PLN 60.5 million is owed to the TSL sector by trading companies. Carriers are also waiting to recover PLN 28.7 million from industry and PLN 17.6 million from the construction sector.
